Collection

The sky is dark again.
I crawl out of the dumpster I call home.
Slipping my bookbag over my shoulders as I make my way across town.
Down quiet sidewalks.
Past slow moving police cars.
My muscles hurt.
My stomach growls.
I can't remember the last time I ate.
Heading down a dark road- I fight the urge to vomit as my bones ache.
Light.
One tiny light on a porch from the end of the road- but it's there.
And it means I'm almost well again.
I feel my pocket.
Thankful for the twenty I earned earlier in the day after the old man dropped me back behind the
grocery store.
The light grows closer as I speed up- avoiding the stares of people who watch me pass.
Snickering.
Bad mother.
They whisper.
Junkie.
Another says.
Homeless.
The voices are not wrong.
I rub my pregnant belly as I climb the wooden steps- dropping my bag on the porch before
tapping on the door.
A guy opens the glass just enough to take the money- handing me my baggie and shooing me
away.
I quickly grab my belongings, and recede into the darkness of the woods across the street-
sitting down in the grass and laying against the tree.
My stomach cramps worse.
I quickly load my works- jamming the needle into my hand- eager to chase the euphoria I craved
all day.
My eyes fall heavy as it hits.
My stomach cramps.
I rub my belly as I fall to my side- feeling at peace for the first time all day.
And never wake up again.