( prompt ) "It's six am. What are you doing?"

It’s 6am and he’s already tired. He slept on the floor. Stevie, Stacey, and his mom all fit themselves into the bed, and there’s a cot for his dad. Sam’s back hurts. The blanket he uses is scratchy; he misses his old blue comforter that he’s had since he was nine.

Sam gets up before everyone else. He needs to or else he’ll be pressed against four other people trying to get ready in the morning. He needs time alone to breathe before he starts another day.

( He hates this bathroom. )

( prompt ) "It hurts to find out that what you wanted doesn't match what you dreamed it would be."

It hurts the entire day. Sam can’t tell anyone, and he doesn’t want to show it because then he’d have to explain, and he can’t, so he grits his teeth and goes through the motions. Locker combination, books in, books out, class. Ignore the letter stuffed in his pocket, the one he’d found this morning slipped through the grates of his locker. The one that says they’re through.

( He doesn’t even know what he did wrong. )