It’s late now, I should be asleep. My mind won’t let me. It’s thinking at a rapid rate. When my brain starts thinking, it doesn’t stop. I watch a show to take my mind off of it. 

I get into the episode. So far, it’s working. The dark room dissipates around me and is replaced with bright colors and brighter characters. I have evaded reality. 

A character says something that trips my memory. The immersion stopped working. The curtain ripped; the bright colors around me were poked by jet black tendrils. The tendrils of reality grabbed at my body and pulled me back into my room and out of the screen. 

My mind picks up with snapshots of thoughts about everything going on. School. Work. Loneliness. Precalc. Spanish. My friends. Everything crashes down around me. 

I open Snapchat. I message my friend. I tell her about how my friends have been horrible people and the distrustful things they’ve done to me in just the past month. I tell her about my terrible feelings of loneliness over my ex-girlfriend. I unload everything at once. 

It’s late. She won’t see it.

Less than 10 minutes later, my phone buzzes.

She got it.

“Forget about them. They’re not your friends if they’re doing that to you.”

I think about what to say. Nobody ever understands this when I tell them. My own best friend shut me out after the last time I unloaded. 

“Thanks for that,” I decide.

I put my phone down.

I smile. It feels good to have someone to trust.