[untitled]

She sits on the end of the bed wearing nothing but a sheet. She looks over at the man sleeping next to her. Another in a long line of men who treat her badly. She wonders if everyone is as emotionally closed off as the people she has met in the last 8 months. They all seem like they are open and free and willing. But underneath there is a malaise, an apathy which permeates everything.

Apathy scares her.

She looks out the window. Dawn is breaking. It is already almost 100 degrees on this balmy mid July morning. She lights a cigarette and realizes. She is done. Not with this cigarette or the bedsheet or even the man. She is done. With the lifestyle. It hurts too much, to feel around those who don't. But now she is done. Now she is liberated.

The man on the bed begins to stir. Once more for good measure, she thinks.

After she puts on her clothes and heads out the door and never looks back.

Because, at the tender age of 20, Elise Anna Gregory is done.