Keesha slammed her bedroom door shut and winced from the loudness of her action. She did have her hearing back, but her ears were still sensitive to loud noises at times.

"He doesn't belong here! I don't belong with him!" She shouted seethingly. Anger boiled in her veins and she knew she was going to hurt someone or herself if she wasn't careful.

Shaking her head and taking deep and slow breaths, she tried to calm herself down. Going over to her lamp, she flicked it on. The bright light shone directly into her eyes as she looked down into it, temporarily blinding her.

She blinked several times, but images started to swim before her eyes. Making her see scenes that had herself and other people she didn't know. Carefully she squinted to peer closer at the strangers that were with her. Trying to see if she could make out faces or perhaps even voices.

Then it came flooding to her. Loud laughter echoed in the small room. It had to have been a hotel room because it all seemed too neat, too perfect, too gaudy and posh.

There were two other girls were in the room with her. She was laughing along with them as she sipped greedily from a bottle of what looked like wine or champaign. Noticing that the girls were smoking cigarettes and drinking also she watched herself reaching for one of them that was being offered to her.

Keesha sucked in a deep sharp breath when she saw herself opening a bottle and dumping several white pills into her palm. She started laughing again along with what must have been her friends and swallowed all of the pills with one swig of the wine, then puffed on the cigarrette.

Quickly Keesha turned away from the light. She didn't want to see anymore. It couldn't be true. It wasn't! Her imagination had to be working over time. The vision was just an effect of having her father around.

"Maybe if you tell yourself that enough times, you'll believe it." She hissed to herself in anger. She saw the scene itself. It played out before her very own eyes. She saw herself years ago drinking; abusing some form of a drug, smoking, and doing all this with her friends that were obviously the same way as, she, herself was.

Keesha nearly jumped out of her skin when Taylor walked in.

"Hey. Are you okay, Keesh?" Taylor asked worriedly when he saw her panic-stricken face.

"Yeah." Keesha whispered. "Just fine."

She knew that Taylor didn't believe her; and he knew that she knew that he didn't believer her too. But he didn't press her for answers. Only said goodnight and promised that he would be there in the morning when she got up so that she wouldn't have to face her parents alone.

With a weak good-bye, she saw him to her bedroom door and kissed him emotionlessly.

Giving a frown of disappointment but undertanding, he said goodnight again.

Her hand lingered on the door as she shut if behind him. I'm so sorry, Taylor. So sorry. I didn't mean to drag you into this mess. Tears coursed down her cheeks, and continued to even after she dressed and lay in bed.

That night, in many nights, she cried herself to sleep.