The boys sucked at each other’s necks and pulled off their shirts, their clothes disappearing into bursts of electric glitter as they left their skin. One pushed the other into the wall and started to bite his flesh.

“Can you guys find a better room?” I asked as they became increasingly naked.

“Can you?” the headband retorted, then went back to kissing his boyfriend before saying, “You don’t own every realm.”

He made a good point. The wardrobe, the mirror, the painting of that white church. None of it was mine.

The 808s made the floor wobble so hard the horseshoe above my door went from facing up to facing down.

It happens sometimes, that sentient ghosts use rooms and then leave. I assume the two boys died in that state—having sex—and I guess that would mean they’re drawn to the loud music and sexual energy of party settings as they bleed from one world to the next.

I sank back into my body, curled up, and tried to fall asleep again, feeling jealous and alone.

The lesson I learned is I will never take alcohol from Grady again, because it straight knocked me out, and my stomach is twisting with some poison that hits the back of my throat like vomit.

There’s a buzzing in the bathroom. Benji’s electric razor fell behind the toilet paper stand and is vibrating across the floor. I put it back in place. A cockroach skitters across the tile. I run out to grab one gym shoe, kill it, and flush it.

My head’s still pounding all the way down the staircase. Cups everywhere in the kitchen. A pizza box in the middle of the kitchen floor, with no pizza in it. The sweaty smell from some athletic boy who neglected a shower still lingers in the leather of the couch.

Benji made a mess of this place. I run back upstairs to his room, which has a corny yellow OFF-LIMITS road sign. Funny how it doesn’t stop me from banging on the door and flinging it open. “I hope you’re not expecting me to clean all this u—”

“Can you fuckin’ knock?” he groans, tired and angry. He bucks in bed, pulling the cover over someone’s head. A girl. All I catch of her is a nest of brown hair disappearing underneath the blanket.

“Shit—sorry.” I close the door as fast as possible.

Wow. Wow. Okay.

Benji’s always with a different girl, so I’m not surprised. Just disgusted.

Downstairs, I fill garbage bags with Solo cups and paper plates. I sweep the crumbs and go out to the patio.