Chewed My Nails to Nubs.

A familiar face just approached me after shouting "Hey, you!" across the coffee shop.
I have managed to avoid her the entire time I've been back in town. What a peaceful 8 months its been.
Her tiny frame shakily lurched toward me. The face of a sixty year old woman peered at me through locks of what must have been a new weave, complete with fluffy bangs and two long braids. Her piercing voice explained to me that she had been hospitalized for the last few months for anorexia but she was "making it through." It reminded me of the time I was forced (out of guilt) to rush her to the hospital for some unknown ailment which probably never existed in the first place. Her overzealous use of what I can only assume to be crack or heroin for the first part of her life has left her broken, aged well beyond her years, and consistently hospitalized or institutionalized. Her life is a continuous reminder to me that drugs are not always a fun recreation.
The conversation was short lived and awkward. She explained quickly that she is still slowly fading away and wobbled toward an old man that was willing to pay for her drinks and listen to her prattle on. Really they just babble at each other- neither really paying attention to what the other one has to say. They are both just happy to have someone to talk at.
Soon after that fun filled interaction I was accosted by yet another familiar face, a man of small stature that has previously asked me to call him "Shorty". This experience was less hands on, more of a good mental fucking. This particular man, along with so many other unsavory characters, has taken a particular liking to me. He gets his kicks by staring at me directly in the eyes while I struggle to find the right balance in eye contact. Then it begins...
He asks me how I'm doing and what I'm doing. My answers are never as in depth as he wants them to be, he asks me questions about my answers and then... then comes the advice, the life advice thats strangers always feel the need to give me. I keep the conversation as short as possible, but he still manages to linger for just too long. When he leaves its always awkward, always like I did something wrong, like I have offended him, or blown him off... like he's my childhood friend that I am neglecting. My approach lately has been to ignore him by all means necessary, which is precisely what happened today. I saw him walk in and immediately fixed my eyes on the computer screen in front of me. Beyond the screen there he was, staring intensely at my face, waiting like a hyper active puppy for any sign of attention. He was waiting to spring- practically shaking in anticipation, a minute went by and he was still staring. I was a stone, and finally he got his coffee and slithered out the door.
I quickly realized that my surroundings weren't a preferable place to think, I decided to leave the coffee shop. "I should go walk the dog now" I thought and almost got up to leave. But then I realized that I wasn't staying at that house anymore. "I could go to Hillards" I thought. But I don't know who's there, and there is nothing to do there anyway, just some cats and a couch. I am still homeless. I feel like I've been home forever. I feel like I never left, but I still don't have a house of my own. My belongings are strewn out between 4 different houses. Somehow I have accumulated at least four times the stuff that I can to Kalamazoo with, my clothes are in the most obtrusive of piles in my friends bedroom. Only 3 more weeks and I will be home free.