Johnny Wagner, 3/16/09 10:32 AM

It’s the first day of spring break. I roll out of bed slowly, rubbing the lack of sleep from my eyes before fumbling around the nightstand for my glasses. Ordinarily I’d be in the middle of my life drawing class by now, but not this week. This week I get to go work at the shop.

That’s right, while most college 20 something’s are off living it up in Cancun I’ll be here in good ole Houston Texas, working from 11 to whenever the fuck I feel like closing at the Dragon’s Lair comic and game shop just off campus. Oh joy.

Don’t get me wrong I have no interest what so ever in being anywhere near Cancun or where ever the latest MTV spring break hot spot is, it would be far too crowded, and I hate crowds. The thought of wading through a sea of people makes me shake for a moment. The lamp on my nightstand seems to shake with me and almost falls.

Strange… I cock my head and look at the lamp for a moment. I hold my arm up towards the lamp and focus my thoughts on it. At first nothing happens, but soon its starts to lightly wobble…

The sudden and loud buzz of my alarm clock startles me and breaks my concentration. The lamp flies across the room and slams against the wall shattering.

“Fuck!” I scramble to hit the off button on the alarm and look over at the pieces of lamp. I check the hall for my roommate, but quickly remember he’s already left for the holiday.

I glance down at my hands and shudder; I pull the single drawer on my nightstand out and dump its contents onto my bed. Several little orange containers tumble and cascade over each other as they hit the mattress.

I sift through the countless prescriptions, scooping those I don’t want back into the drawer. After a few moments, I find what I’m looking for. I clutch the bottle of Abilify and pop the lid off. I shake two pills into the palm of my hand and choke them down. Years of taking pills have made it somewhat easy for me to take them without anything to drink. Glancing at the shattered lamp I decide to take one more.

I grab my cell phone and send a text message to Stephanie asking her if she managed to get back to sleep last night. Her dreams have been getting worse. I pick up one of several shirts off the floor and smell it. Tossing it aside I grab another. I keep doing this until I find a clean smelling one. It's my Kings of Leon shirt, good band, I pull it on over my head. I put on a pair of cargos and I’m in the middle of slipping on my left shoe when my phone chimes.

It’s Stephanie, the text reads, ‘No, went 2 work early, will call u later.’

I reply simply with an ‘ok’. I’ll tell her about the lamp later. I finish getting ready and run a comb through my hair trying to get the part standing up in the back to lay flat. After a few minutes of fussing I get frustrated and give up. What do I care how I look anyways? I walk through the apartment and make sure all the lights are off and flip a switch on the thermastat turning off the AC as well.

On my way to the door I grab my skateboard.

“Zug zug.” I mumble as I turn the key to lock the deadbolt...