Things That Go Bump In The Night

  Work had been horrible, my head hurt so bad I could hardly think. I couldn’t even listen to the radio on the way home my head hurt so badly. I felt so bad for what I had done earlier; I couldn’t get the image of Gloria’s slouching shoulder out of my head after I pulled her from my chair and sent her on her way. She seemed like such a nice girl, so high on life. So free from the ugly things of this world and she had to go and cross paths with me. I would look for her on Thursday and tell her I was sorry.

    I was so glad I didn’t have to go to school tomorrow, so my plan was to sleep all day tomorrow. I had had a sandwich when I had gotten home from school. I wasn’t hungry, but I needed to get something in me. I figured when I got home I would nuke two burritos, shower and go to bed. I didn’t get home until about nine thirty; I left one of the burritos half ate. I showered, said to hell with the rest of the day and went to bed. 

  I awoke with a jerk; my sixth sense told me I wasn’t alone. I lived in a one bedroom apartment on the second floor, the apartment had simple layout. From my bedroom there was a short hallway. The bathroom was on the right, a closet on the left. The hallway was set to one side of the apartment, and from my bedroom you could see right through the living room into the kitchen. In the living room the front door was to the right, the balcony door to the left. There was a wall that separated the living room and the kitchen with empty doorway on the left. If you walked though the entrance into the kitchen, the fridge was on the left.

On the far wall there was the kitchen sink and a window.

 I quietly got out of bed. I listened to the noises of the night trying to gain my bearings. I could hear no one in the apartment, but after the army you learned to trust your sixth sense. I reached under the bed a pull out my shotgun, as I walked quietly to my door I turned the shotgun over and stuck my thumb into the pump’s magazine to make sure the shotgun was loaded. The magazine held seven three inch shells; I knew it was loaded before I pulled it out from under the bed.

There was no way the shotgun could have been unloaded, but better safe the sorry.

  I felt the first shell in the magazine and made sure the safety was on. I held the shotgun by its pump and with my right hand I slowly reached out and pulled opened my bedroom door and stepped into the hall. I almost had a heart attack, looking up the hall into the kitchen was a person. I pumped the shotgun and flicked off the safety, I raise the shotgun to my shoulders and came up the hall. 

  As I came up the hall I could see that the intruder was a women, she was looking at the photos that were taped to the fridge. She was short and blond, she wore pin striped black slacks and a black wool jacket. There was a blue turtleneck showing above the jackets collar. Her hair was flowing down and covered the sides of her face. It was Gloria.

  I lowered the shotgun to the low ready and put it back on safe. I stood at the end of the hall, I wasn’t afraid of a hundred pound girl but again, better safe than sorry. This girl had broken into my house; there was no telling what she could do.

Standing there in my boxers I suddenly wished I had my cell phone; it would have been so much easier to have the cops deal with Gloria then to for me to shoot her.

  I looked to the front door, it was locked. Had I left the front door unlocked I wondered? Had she let herself in and locked the door? Gloria hadn’t spoken, She just stood there looking at the different pictures. She must have heard me rack the shotgun as well as come up the hallway, I suddenly felt afraid. This was not going to end well, what was this girl capable of?

   ‘Gloria?’ I spoke in a very quiet and gentle voice.

  I knew this was going to end badly. I didn’t want to aggravate this anymore then I needed too, I just hoped that she didn’t have a weapon. I’ve shot people before, I knew of at least two. The first was like a Wild West show down with a Iraqi police officer in a market on my first tour. The second was on my second tour, a man had tried to knife my lieutenant. We were in a large crowd and it had been a head shot and had blown the top of his head off, brains and skull splattered all over the lieutenant. I had gotten blood on my face, for some reason that had always bothered me. The man still came and haunted me in my dreams. Gloria turned and faced me.

   ’Gloria, what are you doing here.’ 

  Gloria flashed me a large smile, she didn’t even seem to notice I had a shotgun pointing at her stomach.

   ’Hi Conner, is this you here in the army?’

  She asked pointing to one of the pictures on the fridge. She acted like I had invited her here; she was very cheerful with her smile never fading. She suddenly looked like a mother going to scold a small child, and then she smiled slyly.

   ‘Conner, why are you in your underwear? If you knew a lady was over, why didn’t you put some clothes on before you came out of your bedroom?’ 

  Was she serious? Did she not see my shotgun? Did she really think it was okay for her to come into my house in the middle of the night? Gloria crossed her arms and waited for me to answer.

   ‘Gloria, how did you get in?’ she just smiled like she had a secret she wasn’t going to share. ‘Gloria what are you doing here?’

  Gloria frowned and said, ‘To see you silly, Conner I think you really should put some clothes on. I think you cute and all, but I don’t think I’m ready to see you in your underwear.’

   ‘Gloria it’s the middle of the night. What part of breaking into my place do you think is alright?’

  If I didn’t have to shoot her, I was going to have to put a restraining on her. Did she really think that this was okay? Gloria took a step towards me. I quickly raised the shotgun.

   ’Conner, aren’t you happy to see me?’ She asked looking hurt.

   ‘Gloria, look I’m really sorry that I shoved you today at school, but listen to me. Coming into my house like this is, you’ve violated the sanctity of my home, don’t you understand that?’

  Suddenly a shadow seemed to fall over Gloria’s face. The pretty little girl that

I had seen at school was gone; she suddenly looked cold and menacing.

A chill shot up my spine. This was about to get ugly fast and there was nothing I could do to stop it. If I didn’t put my foot down now about her coming uninvited into my home, there would be no way to keep this from getting worst. She had to see that this was unhealthy behavior.

   ‘Conner, I don’t think I like the way you’re speaking to me.’

   ‘Gloria, I don’t like that you’ve broken into my house.’

  I could hear a rumble resonating from Gloria. I put pushed the safety from safe to fire. Gloria seemed to have seen me put the shotgun to fire. She uncrossed and lowered her arms. She spread her fingers out like claws. Gloria spoke very slowly,

  ‘Conner, don’t you like me?

  I couldn’t speak, how did one answer that? I’ve only had one quarter of psyche.

When I hadn’t answered, Gloria responded in a way I couldn’t believe. She struck the doorway into the kitchen, the door frame and the wood studs behind it crushed into the wall. Sheet rock flew everywhere. The door frame looked as a car struck it. Her left hand moved so quickly I hardly saw it, the sound of her fist hitting the frame was horrendous. It startled me so much I fire the shotgun at her. In a flash she was by the door looking at me in a crouch, she looked like a football player in a three point stance. She had her right hand was on the ground and her left up ready to strike. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing; I hadn’t even seen her move. One second she was in the entry to the kitchen, the next she was crouching in front of the front door. Gloria let out frightening snarl from deep in her throat. I racked the shotguns pump; Gloria snarled and swiped her hand in front of her. I fired a second time; she ducked out of the way of the blast. Damn it I though, the TV was behind her. Well I can’t think about the shot up TV now.

  Gloria snarled again like a wild animal, and then the next thing I saw was the front door smash the wall on the other side of the living room. It stuck in the wall for a half a second, and then fell to the floor. It was quite, I racked the shotgun a third time.

I couldn’t believe how loud the two shotgun blast sounded in the confines of my apartment. I stepped out of the hallway, and sat on the couch that was against the wall. I laid my shotgun across my knees I put it on safe. I looked to my right at the open doorway, and then I looked left at the door lying on the floor.

  I was in shock, what the hell just happened? I must be dreaming, some kind of PTSD moment. I could hear police sirens in the distance, no I wasn’t dreaming.

Damn, what the hell was I going to say to the cops? My poor television I though looking at the big hole in the screen. I was going to have to call and cancel my cable now. I couldn’t afford to buy another one. How did she do that? I looked at the smashed door frame in the kitchen, how a tiny little girl could do so much damage? Damn, I could hear the cops getting out of their cars. This was going to be a long night.

  I leaned my shotgun against the side of the couch on my left. I figured I didn’t need to be handling it when the cops came in.

   ’Police! Hello?’ I could hear the cops right outside my door; they hadn’t looked into the apartment. I guessed they were waiting to see if the shooting was over.

   ’Hey! In here.’ I said.

I couldn’t think of anything else to say, I was still too stunned by what had just happened.

  The first cop poked around the door frame, he had his pistol drawn and had his flash light over his gun hand. I couldn’t really see his face because of the flash light, when he saw me sitting on the couch, he relaxed slightly.

   ’Is there anyone else in the house? The policeman asked.

I just shook my head. I tried to find my voice and said, ’No, it’s just me.’

  Three policemen entered my apartment, as they came in they holstered their pistols. As the last officer came in he turned on the living room light, I flinched away from the brightness of the light.

  The first officer who entered came up to me to find if I had been hurt. The seconded officer that had come in secured my shotgun; the third was reporting the situation in my apartment on his radio.

   The first officer’s name was Walker, he told me the other two officers names, but I forgot them as soon as he had told them to me.

   ’Hey what’s your name?’ Officer Walker asked me.

   ’Conner Steele.’

  The officer that secured my shotgun went down the hallway to check to see that there was no one else in the apartment; the third officer who was taking on his radio looked into the kitchen. Officer Walker spoke again, but I wasn’t listening, he was standing in front of me. He reached out and touched my arm and I looked up at him.

   ’Are you hurt?’ He was very gentle in his speaking.

   ‘No.’  

   ‘You don’t need medical personal Conner? It is Conner yes?’

   ‘No I don’t need medical personal.’

  The other officers came back into the living room. A forth officer entered the apartment, it was a female. Officer Walker looked to the female officer, then back to me.

   ‘Conner, do you have some clothes handy that I could get one of the other officers to grab for you so you don’t have to sit here half naked?’

  I couldn’t think, I rubbed my eyes with my left hand. Without taking my hand from my eyes, I said, ‘I should have a pair of pants on my bedroom floor.’

  One of the officers, I didn’t see which disappeared down the hallway.

   ’Conner what happened here tonight.’ Office Walker asked me.

  I didn’t know what happen, how could I explain it to him? How could you explain a hundred and five pound girl had done all this? Who was so fast she could dodge a shotgun blast, and would was so strong that she could rip a door off its hinges like it was nothing. I just put my head in my hands.

   The officer who retrieved my pants nudged me my shoulder with them. I looked at my pants, took a deep breath and got up to put them on. If the female cop seemed embarrassed she didn’t show it, she just had a look of concern on her face like the other three officers. I sat back down on the couch, a fifth officer showed up he was sergeant.

   ‘Someone broke in.’

  The only officer that spoke was Walker, ‘How many of them were there?’

   ‘One, I think.’ I had to keep the lie simple.

   ‘You think?’  

   ‘I don’t know. I was asleep. I heard a crash; I came out with my shotgun.’

   ‘Did the intruder have a weapon?’

  I thought to myself, did she have a weapon, like she needed one. Her whole body seemed to be a weapon.

   ‘I don’t know.’

   ‘You fired not knowing if the intruder had a weapon or not?’

  That question kind of pissed me off; I still didn’t feel right from my hangover and now he was going to ask me stupid a*s questions?

   ‘Officer maybe I’m hallucinating, did you not see my front door? When someone comes into my house like that, I’m a combat vet. I’m not going to wait to see if they have a weapon. They die.’

   ‘I understand that. But let’s not get excited okay? I’m trying to see if the perpetrator is armed. Do you understand? We need to know if this person or persons is armed and dangerous.’

   ’They did that to my door. I think it’s safe to assume they’re dangerous.’

   ‘How many times did you fire?’

   ‘Twice I think.’

  I could see that one of the officers held up my two empty shotgun shells to Officer Walker. He in turn nodded.

   ’Did you think you hit the intruder?’

   ’No, I don’t think so.’

   ’You fired Twice at close range with a shotgun and you didn’t hit anyone? What makes you so sure?’

   ’I’m not, but there isn’t any blood. Besides, I’m a bad shot.’

   ’You’re a bad shot with a shotgun?’ Walker asked with a smile.

   ’Safest place to stand when I’m shooting is directly in front of me.’ Everyone gave a light chuckle.

   ’Let’s say that there was at least one person in you apartment right?’

   I nodded.

’But you’re not sure if there was anyone else hiding outside?’

  I nodded again.

’Can you give me a description of the person you fired on.’

  I thought to myself I could, but I doubt you would believe me if I did, ’No, it was dark. Sorry.’

  The sergeant cleared his throat, Walker turned and looked at the sergeant and he nodded to the outside. Walker turned and headed towards the door, the sergeant followed. The female officer walked up to the kitchen entry, the other two officers watched her. She reached out and touched the smashed doorway that was smashed in about a foot. The smashed doorjamb had blown the sheet rock out; you could see that behind the doorjamb there was two two-by-fours. Gloria had broken the doorjamb and both two-by-fours. The broken wood had been pushed into the wall so far the next stud had been cracked.

  The female officer gently ran her hand down the crushed door frame.

   ’What happened here?’ she asked.

  I thought Gloria, what else.

   ’I don’t know, I was looking at that when you all showed up.’

  They weren’t going to buy that, good thing I don’t have a school in the morning.

I’m so going to jail tonight it looks like, they’re just not believing anything I’m telling them. They know that I’m holding something back.

   ’It looks like it got hit by a car.’ the female officer said.

   ’Well I can promise you this; they didn’t bring a car up here, whoever they were.’

  The sergeant and officer Walker came back into the apartment, the female cop ratted me out about the doorjamb.

  ’Hey sergeant did you see this?’ she said touching the doorjamb.

The sergeant spoke for the first time. ’Yes I did. Son, this is what I think is going on here.’

  This should be good. I’m all ears, I’m sure right on the money. A*s-hole.

   ’I think you’re not telling us the whole truth here. I think you’ve gotten yourself into something that’s over your head.’

 Well he’s close, kind of. Ha!

   ’I can tell no matter what has happened here, you were trying to defend yourself, you don’t look like the Elvis type. He said looking at my TV.

   ’But lie to us, I don’t care. If you kill someone without a weapon, you’re going to jail. If you’ve been breaking the law and kill someone, you’re going to jail. So good luck to you. I hope you don’t die before you wise up.’ With that he turned and walked out the door. 

  It was three in the morning before the cops left. Thanks to the cops lack of confidence in story, the resident manager informed me that I would be paying for the repairs on my apartment. On the bright side of things, I’ve done repairs on the apartments for deduction in rent from time to time. The manager knew I was more than capable of fixing the destruction Gloria had caused. I just had to pay for materials, I received at ten percent discount at the hardware store, and the manager had spare dead bolts and locks. So I was only going to be out a few two-by-fours a sheet of drywall and one door. Gloria’s temper tantrum was going to cost me about two hundred bucks, plus my hangover recover time.

 Once the cops left I put the door back in place and with a few four inch wood screws I had in my toolbox to secure the door for the night. I was able to keep my shotgun, to which I was grateful. The police sergeant had said I would probably need it. Jack-a*s.

  I didn’t sleep well the rest of the night; every little sound that I heard had me out of bed listening for a Gloria. I still hadn’t processed what had happened the night before, it was so much like a dream that I had wondered if it really happen.

But as soon as I saw the wall going into the kitchen I knew that it was not dream.

  Gloria, what are you? I thought. How did you do what you did? I couldn’t get the picture of her out of my head crouched in front of the television. After brushing my teeth, I walked into the kitchen to make breakfast. I went to the fridge to get some eggs out when something jumped out at me. I had had a picture of me in Iraq with all my gear on standing next to my truck out on the streets of Baghdad.

  Gloria had asked me if that was me, the picture was missing. What next? Would she be sneaking in and steal my underwear? The lost of the picture had me sick to my stomach. I think I’ll skip breakfast and just go get the new stupid door.

  I went out the sliding glass door that led out on to the balcony, and jumped down into the grass behind my apartment. I knew I could climb back up that way, and I figured it would be easier the taking out all the screws that were holding the front door in.

  I had gotten a pre-hung door, meaning that it came already attached to the doorjamb; I had gotten a full eight by four sheet of drywall. Some drywall tape and mud, I already had drywall screws. Also I was going to have to patch up the shotgun blast that when into the kitchen, I was so glad I didn’t hit a window last night. Too bad about the TV though, it got the worst of it I think.

  It took about four hours to repair most of the damage. I just cut the two smashed two-by-fours out in the entry into the kitchen and nailed in two new ones. I tore the old door frame out; there hadn’t been a door in there as long as I have lived here. I would throw some drywall up to cover the bare wood that was under the old door frame.

  The shotgun blast that went into the kitchen didn’t go through the outside wall, so it was an easy fix. I threw up some drywall mud and called it a day. It would need some sanding and some paint, I was sure the manager had some wall paint somewhere. It wouldn’t take much to get him to give me some so I could paint the living room and the kitchen. One less thing he had to worry about after I moved.

 The front door was the trickiest part, there was some damage done to the framing under the doorjamb, not really a big deal, but I was going to need to get more drywall. Once I got the new door in I went and found the manager to get the new doorknob and deadbolt and of course came up with me to inspect the work.

He asked me about last night, I told him that I was still half asleep when everything happened. For most part he was just glad that he wasn’t going to have to pay to get the placed fixed, and that no one had gotten killed.

  He had asked me when he thought that I would have the drywall taping and mudding finished. I had told him that that would take some time. With school and work, plus the time it took for the mud to dry, and all the sanding, a couple of weeks. He wasn’t too happy about that, but I’m sure he’ll get over it. I would pick up another sheet of drywall on the way home from work.

  Some of the people from work were wondering why I was there getting stuff for my apartment, I didn’t bother answering them. I just said because and I’ll see you later today, they knew me enough to know the subject was closed. The rest of the day had passed without incident. I had worked from five to ten, all I had done today was stalk shelves. Nice and easy mindless work, I was glad when it was time to go home I was exhausted.  

  I tried my best not to think about Gloria. Damn, what would I do if she saw me at school tomorrow? I wondered if she even went to school there, just the thought of her made my head hurt. I still couldn’t think of anything that could logically explain what had actually happened. I just ended up shaking my head and telling myself not to think about it. I had English and psyche tomorrow. I was looking forward to psyche; maybe I would learn something that would help me explain last night. I took a shower, ate a bowl of cereal and went to bed.

  I decided I was going to steer clear of the atrium today. There was no way in hell

I was going to take the chance in running into Gloria. I had decided last night while I was falling asleep, I was going to ignore what had happen the previous night. I was going to fix my apartment, check to make sure the doors were locked one extra time and I was going to stay away from the atrium till the end of the quarter.

  I knew Gloria could easily find me at my apartment, I just accepted that fact. But I wasn’t going to go anywhere that I knew she might be, I didn’t take enough medication to deal with someone like her. I would find somewhere else to get coffee, and I would eat my lunch in the men’s bathroom if that’s what it took.

   I had made it through the school day and hadn’t seen Gloria. I did the Fred Flintstone thing after school, I wanted to get away from there as fast as I could. I went home took a shower and headed off to work. I worked four to eight today. I would finish putting up the last of the drywall tonight when I got home. When I got home, I went right to work on the sheetrock. It didn’t take long to get the last pieces up around the front door. I took a shower and started on home work, It was after midnight before I had got to bed.

  I was sleeping and I knew it, but it did not help to know I was sleeping. It was the same old dream; the man I had shot in the head in Iraq would walk up to me with the top of his head missing. He would try to talk to me, but I couldn’t hear him. I would try to look away from him, but as soon as I took my eyes away from his wound I would go blind. Being blind made this particular dream worse, because I knew the dead Iraqi was there even though I couldn’t see him. Not seeing him walking up to me was worse the seeing the top of his head missing. Once he got right in front of me he would tip his head at me, then his brains would start pouring out, and I would wake with a jolt. I was having that same dream tonight, and I could never wake up before he tip his head. I hated this dream, and no matter how many times I had it. It never lost its potency.

  I jolted awake from my nightmare, and there bent over me looking down was Gloria. It was bad enough to wake from that horrible dream alone in the dark, but waking from that dream and then look straight into the eyes of Gloria was even worse.

  ‘Holy s**t!’ I yelled flailing my arms and kicking the blankets off of me. Gloria jumped back a step and laughed.

   ’What the hell’s a matter with you!’ I yelled.

Gloria laughed again and said, ’I was wondering if you were awake?’ she had a large smile on her beautiful face.

   ’What in the world would make you think I would be awake at this time of the night?!’

  I was still yelling, I was too angry to be afraid. Gloria looked as if we were the best of friends, and she had just pulled one over on me by waking me up.

   ‘Get the hell out of my apartment Gloria!’

  I was kneeling on my bed against the wall next to my bed; I wanted to be as far away as I could from Gloria. The image of her looking like a cornered cougar was right in the front of my mind. Gloria placed her hands on her hips and shook her head at me. She raised one hand and shook her finger,

   ‘Now Conner, is that the way you talk to a lady?’

  I couldn’t believe this; she tore my front door off its hinges and threw it into the far wall. Smashed an entry way into my kitchen and had the nerve to lecture me on the way I spoke to a lady?

   ‘You know your f*****g temper tantrum cost me several hundred dollars, then you sneak back into my house and have the audacity to lecture me?’

  My tone seemed to catch her off guard.

   ‘You had to pay for the damage you did shooting at me? And by the way, I would like you to know shooting at me was very insensitive of you.’

   ‘Insensitive? Did you hit your head when you ran out of my apartment last night you crazy b***h! I wasn’t talking about the bullet holes; I was talking about the new front door I had to buy. And all the sheet rock you wrecked when you karate chopped my wall. Oh yeah, let’s not forget the cops. I really enjoyed trying to explain WHAT THE HELL HAPPED TO MY APARTMENT!’ I yelled.

  Gloria beautiful laugh filled my bedroom, ‘That was funny, I was pretty mad when I left last night, but when I heard the cops, I came back. I was curious what you’re going to say to them. Conner I wish you could have heard the two cops talking outside after you talked to them. They thought you were so lying.’

  Gloria chuckled to herself remembering the two police officers speaking outside on the stairs.

   ‘Was the door expensive?’

   ‘Yes, it cost me a few hundred bucks. Not to mention the fact I have to buy a new television set.’

   ‘I didn’t touch the television Conner that was all you.’

 I breathed heavily through my nose.

   ‘Gloria, can you can you do something for me?

   ‘Sure.’ she said tilting her head to one side.

   ‘Get the hell out of my apartment!’

   ‘You sure are grumpy in the middle of the night.’

  And just like that, Gloria was gone. I should have told her to give me my picture back. But I was afraid that if I did, it would only encourage her to come back. And that wasn’t something I wanted.

  I didn’t see Gloria the next day at school. It wasn’t till I was riding on the bus home did she reappeared. I was sitting on the outside seat like always letting everyone know that I wasn’t going to be friendly. I was reading my book, and my backpack was between my feet. I glanced out the window and looked right into

Gloria’s smiling beautiful face. Somehow she had gotten into the seat beside me without me noticing her.

   ‘Holy s**t!’ I yelled jumping from my seat into the aisle.

   ‘Conner, not so loud.’ Gloria said chastising me.

   ‘What the hell Gloria?’ I said threw my teeth.

  I reached down and took my bag from her and moved closer to the front of the bus. The others passengers were either looking at me or were uncomfortably trying not to notice my outburst. As I moved up the aisle, the other passengers of the half filled bus looked away.

  I sat down again on the outside seat. Gloria came up to my seat and with her hip pushed me easily over into the window seat and sat beside me.

   ’Conner don’t be silly.’ She said quietly.

  I was starting to get angry, so I spoke very harshly through my teeth at Gloria,

   ’What the hell are you doing? Stay away from me you crazy b***h!’

   ’Conner quit being silly, there’s no reason to use profanities at me.’

   ’What part of leave me the hell alone do you not understand?’

  The bus drive suddenly got into our conversation,

   ’Is there a problem you two?’

  I could see the bus driver looking into his mirror.

   ’No we’re fine.’ Gloria said cheerfully.

   ’No we’re not call the cops please!’ I asked the bus driver.

  I knew that public buses could call the cops; I just hoped that the driver would take me serious.

   ’I don’t need trouble on my bus so if there’s going to be trouble, you need to get off or I’m calling the cops!’

  I could hear the irritation rising in the bus driver’s voice.

   ’I would gladly get off the bus if I could but she won’t let me so can you call the cops please!’

   ’Conner stop it.

   ’Stop what? Trying to get away from your crazy a*s? Stop the bus please!’ I could see that the bus was slowing so I grabbed the emergency release for the window and jumped out of the bus. I hoped as I fell to the ground I wouldn’t break my laptop or get ran over. The bus slowed quickly as I fell to the ground. I landed on my feet but I was moving forward to fast to stay on them. I was holding my backpack close to my chest so I just tucked and rolled. I was on my feet and on the sidewalk in a flash. I could see Gloria looking out the back window at me looking quite upset.

  So now it seems that the lot of my life is school, homework, work and getting the hell scared out of me by Gloria. Gloria would break into my apartment three to four times a week and what to talk, or to see what I was doing. Whether it was night or day did not seem to matter to her, my personal favorite visit was when she would come into the bathroom when I was showering and try to ask about my day. I tried not to yell at her, she seemed more stable and more responsive if I spoke nicely to her.

   If she came into the bathroom, I would politely ask her to wait in the living room for me. If she woke me up in the middle of the night I would tell her to talk to me at school because I needed my sleep. Gloria would just say that she forgot, she didn’t need sleep so she forgot sometimes that others did. I did end up yelling at her right before winter finals because I woke up in the middle of the night and she was lying on the bed beside me, I opened my eyes and looked right into her face.

  I was grateful she was between me and the wall; otherwise I probably would have gone through the wall jumping out of bed. She told me she was sorry for scaring me and she wouldn’t do that to me again.

  Other times Gloria would disappear on me for a few days that was always a nice time. I could sleep without worry, I could do the huge homework load I had without her help. There was nothing more annoying than having someone come out of thin air and look over your shoulder and then try to correct your work. And I think the worse part about Gloria was dating. Dating was absolute impossibility, thanks Gloria, thank you very much.