“Hello, Elise. This is Sara. She will be staying here for a bit.”

Elise looked Sara up and down with the clinical exhaustedness of someone who had spent too much time at their job. Elise nodded and wrote something down on a paper. Sara’s eyes travelled around the room, trying to take it all in.

“Sara, did you give all of your personal belongings to the security guard in the entranceway?” Her voice was calm but matched her appearance - exhausted. Sara nodded mutely. She didn’t think she would be able to speak with the anxiety blocking her throat. She felt physically unable to make a noise. What if Sophie couldn’t visit her in here? Elise showed her to her room, which she shared with an aging East Indian woman.

“Abeni, this is Sara, your new roommate. Sara, this Abeni.” Elise introduced them quickly and then left Sara to her own devices. Sara tried not to look at Abeni, who hadn’t said anything. Sara was very afraid of everyone in this ward and an alarming feeling of panic was writhing on her back. She sat on the bed, jumping when Abeni started to talk. But Sara couldn’t understand a word that Abeni was speaking - Sara guessed she was speaking in an East Indian language but she didn’t know for sure.

“Sorry. I only speak English,” Although Sara figured that she wasn’t going to be here long, she wanted to be able to understand her roommate before she slept in the same room as her. Abeni kept talking, but started picking up intensity as if she was yelling at Sara. Sara backed up a few paces and left the room. She immediately felt bad for leaving the room but she was very afraid. Some lady was yelling at her in a language she didn’t understand.

In the main room of the psych ward was a window. Sara walked over to the window and noticed the sun was setting. She was unsure of what time it was - which would probably could be the one sentence that described her entire life as a homeless person - but enough time had passed for the sun to be setting. Sophie, was still, unsurprisingly not in the parking lot anymore. But Sara still had to check. After all, even in the face of futility, hope prevails. Maybe Sophie would visit again tomorrow.