“Here we go again. Stop comparing me to your old husband. If he was such the perfect husband, why did you leave him for me?” said Gary.
“I am not comparing him to you. I am just saying he at least helped me around the house. All you do is lay here while I work and work like a dog,” said Gertrude.
“Because you are suppose to clean and cook while I work. It is your fault that you want to work in the outside world. You have a lot of work at home.”
“That is the most sexist thing I have ever heard in my life.”
“Whatever. Can you move out the way of the TV? You are eclipsing it.”
“I don’t deserve this, Gary.”
“Then leave like the other twenty times.” The baby started to cry in the other room. Gertrude rolled her eyes and ran up stairs to check on their ten month old baby.

The Letters FDA are stamped on my forehead. The letters stand for Former Drug Addict. Of course the letters are not actually stamped on my head but they might as while be. As I walk the halls to my college dorm, I hear peoples’ whispers.
“That’s Erin, the drug addict.”
“He almost died in his dorm but his roommate saved him.”
“If it was not for his roommate banging on the door which kept him alive and throwing away the drugs and keeping this information from the university, he would be died and expelled.”
Now people avoid me like the black plague. I would not blame them. I mean who hangs out with plagues. But I just wish that they see that I changed.

Bailey was in her room. She had been there all day. She convinced her mom that she was sick. But she wasn’t. Her best friend had been bullying her and Bailey had enough days. Bailey was happy to be in her haven where no one can bully her. Her cell phone vibrated. She looked at her phone. It was from her best friend. She opened and read the text message.
It said:
Trudy: Well the idiot did not come to school today.
Bailey decided to text her back.
Bailey: Are you 16?? Grow up please.
Trudy: Aren’t you??
Bailey: Yes. And that’s what I act like. I don’t act like I am in middle school.
Trudy: I do act like I am 16.
Bailey: So why are you bullying me? You spread rumors about me then I have to clear them up.
Trudy did not text back.

After thirty minutes, Gertrude comes back and stands in front of the television again.
“What do you want?” said Gary.
“To finish this conversation as adults,” said Gertrude.
“Okay. Let’s finish the conversation. Drop the job and be a stay at home mom.”
“Why? My job is who I am. I love being a columnist. Why do you want me to leave my job so much?”
“Why is this such a surprise? I told you when we were dating I will like to have a stay at home mom.”
“Yeah. I know. I was going to break it off on our next date which was three months later. The day I was going to dump you said that I’ve changed and that you were happy to support my dreams. Then you asked me to marry you.”
“Well I guess that was a mistake since I sacrificed living in Miami, living in my apartment, and my job to make you happy in Atlanta.”
“I am not sacrificing my dream for any one and you agreed to everything. And how is any of this related to my original request. I just want you to help me around the house.”
“Well I cant. It’s your job. Why don’t you change,” said Gary.
“Because this is me.”
“Whatever. Can you move away from the TV?”
“No.”
“Move”
“No,” said Gertrude, standing her ground.
Gray got up and said move
What are you going to do?
A white flash went across Gertrude’s face. The baby started to cry. Gertrude went up stairs and Gary sat down.

Sometimes I want to scream that Erin is better and he is himself again. But I can not erase my past. It is a part of me. But I am isolated from the rest of my college. I am not invited to any parties or even study groups. One of my friends gave me advice to shake of the plague. He said pretend that it never happened. But I can’t. People look at me like I am a failure. They talk about me behind my back .they act like they never fell. They walk around looking down one me.

After twenty minutes, Trudy texts back.
Trudy: because you act like you are better than everybody else.
Bailey: No I do not.
Trudy: yes you do. Getting good grades, that is so abnormal. If you want friends, be dumb.
Bailey: NO.
Trudy does not text back.

I know there are people like me in this world. Erin has a home. But it is not here. In a place that can not recognize people sin and people rise from it.
“There is a place for me. But this is not it,” said Erin as he signed a new college application.

After twenty minutes, Bailey decided to text Trudy back.
Bailey: you know what. I love school and who I am. So if you don’t like it that is your problem. I don’t need your phony friendship. There is a place for me and it is not with you.
Trudy does not text.

After an hour, Gertrude came down the stairs with two luggage bags and her baby.
“Where are you going?” said Gary.
“A place for me,” said Gertrude.
“What? “
“A place where a man would not even think to hit me.” Gertrude heads out the door and says, “There is a place for us and it is not here.”

Tarilyn Taylor

Tarilyn Taylor is a Junior at Coral Gables Senior High. She is currently the Nonfiction editor of the greatest literary magazine in the world, Catharsis. She loves to write .