Girl in Pieces

While looking for her own apartment and job in Tucson, Charlie attempts to implement some of the healthy coping mechanisms Casper taught her.

Mikey is away with his band when Charlie arrives in Tucson. Alone in his apartment on her first night, she recalls her first homeless night and panics; she punches her thighs “hoping the pain will snap me back in place” (108). After she eats, her panic recedes. Exhausted, she barricades the apartment door and falls asleep still wearing her coat as “protective armor, just in case” (108). On the pillow, she smells hints of Mikey and feels comforted.

The following day, Charlie buys a glass bottle of iced tea so that she can restock her tender kit. She wants to follow Casper’s advice and not hurt herself, but she wants the kit “just in case” (111). Her next stop is a food cooperative, where she begins feeling overwhelmed. Recalling Blue, she feels the “cereal is eating me alive” (112). Remembering Casper’s advice to stay in the moment, she uses breathing techniques, eventually finding her way back to Mikey’s apartment. After barricading the door, she breaks the tea bottle and stashes the broken glass in her kit.