Alyssa had crunched on the last handful of popcorn in the big plastic mixing bowl but hunger still resided in her stomach. She fiddled with the highlighter cap, her other hand with highlighter attached was poised to shade the bolded word in her textbook until an angry growl roared from deep inside her abdomen. There was no way she was going to be able to continue studying science without real food. Nourishing food. Fill your stomach up to the brim, needing your sweatpants kind of food.

She pushed herself up off the floor and staggered away from the coffee table laden with neon colored index cards and a splayed out microbiology textbook en route for the kitchen. Knowing the fridge was most likely empty—it was Saturday and since Sunday was the day they jointly went to the grocery, they used every morsel of food during the week.

Condiment bottles and baby food jars rattled as Alyssa whipped the door open, "Bone dry." She run her eyes over the shelves trying to see if she could concoct a dish out of the four things before her. "Pickles. Eggs. Almond butter. Greek yogurt."

Alyssa frowned shutting the fridge. She was no master chef. There was no way she could make any of those things into a delectable meal without making herself hurl.

"Delivery it is." She talked to herself while yanking out the junk drawer. The stack of menus regarded extra force as she also pushed down the stack of papers in the process. Having numerous eateries in a ten mile radius was a perk of living within a city that also had a college campus.

"I'm in the mood for spicy but not too spicy." She raffled through the colorful, artistically designed menus. "Sushi. No. Definitely not that." She discarded the menu back in the drawer. "Not looking for healthy right now. I need comfort food."

She sighed to herself, her hands no longer fussing with the menus. The dying sun, painting the living room in a reddish orange, washing out the vibrant hues scattered around the room. Her timid eyes drifted over the room, fearful of what was about to occur. She was going to be home alone for the first time since the assault.

It was befalling to her. Why did being home alone unsettle her so? She use to live for these moments. Pray for them. Push Harmony, Lela, and Safiya out the door so she could have the house all to herself. Blast gangsta rap, with the television on a show she'd seen a thousand times while she studied, snacking on unhealthy snacks and drinking Safiya's Hawaiian Punch.

Now, she was jumpy, lurching at every noise outside the walls and doors of her abode. Earlier, her car horn honked and the index card flew from her hand and smacked against the wall.

She didn't know what was wrong with her. She also hasn't discussed this new fright with her therapist. The last thing she wanted was for Sylvan to psychoanalysis her. She needed her to believe she was excelling on her road to recovery. She didn't want to stay in the land of still healing. She was ready to be her again. And being afraid to be home alone wasn't her.

"You can do this, Alyssa." She tried boosting herself up as she rumpled the edges of the menus with her clammy, tight hold. "You've done this for years. The doors are locked. The windows secure. No one can get in here. You don't need anyone else here to feel at home."

Boom. Boom. Boom.

Three heavy knocks on the front door drained all the air for her lungs. Her heart jolted from its bony cavity to her constricting throat. She hadn't realized she jumped away from the junk drawer until she felt the handle of the oven digging in the small of her back.

"Who the hell is that?" She whispered, tentatively stepping over the menus. Slick paper under her bare feet, she knew if the person knocked again she'd hit her head on the smooth tile floor.

Everyone she knew was busy. She wasn't expecting visitors. Lela was at Trevor's. Harmony was at the game and Samuel was playing in it. Quinn was also at the game, the soccer game was showing solidarity over the football team showed up to their game last week. Cairo was working in the studio and Safiya was at T.U.G trying find her bearings before the big meeting.

Alyssa glimpsed at the clock hanging above the TV knowing one thing to be certain, no one was supposed to be knocking on her door at 7:55

Who do you think is at the door? Should she open it?