She sat there at her desk with her head resting heavily on her arms, staring at the digital clock placed neatly upon her dresser across the room. Watching as the minutes carefully ticked by, she began to worry of tomorrow. Each morning was a milestone for the young woman, as she dreaded beginning her day all over again once the morning light had come. She wanted an escape, a place to go and be free of the chains that she had placed upon herself, dragging her deeper and deeper into fright. Worry always overcame her for no apparent reason quite frequently. Many times she felt as though multiple eyes were all on her, watching, judging. The weight had begun to sink into her chest and she turned her head away from the clock. "I'll live," she had always told herself and others whenever she started to worry. "I'll live," she repeated. See, she had never occured to the thought that although she was, indeed, going to live through whatever life had thrown at her, she refused to acknowledge that she was living unhappily. So many desperate times she wished she could have been open and honest with the ones she loved, but instead she shut herself in her mind never to be free. This concerned her closest friends, her boyfriend; they worried of her stability at one time. She would have her moments of pure panic, laughing uncontrollably, crying, wanting nothing more than to walk out into the school's parking lot with an unsuspecting driver. "Don't let Karen beat you up!" they had said, "She's nothing but a bitch who deserves to die, and we can defeat her together." They had smiled when speaking that last part. What they had never realized, though, is Karen is not as simple as they may speak, but deep down inside they must have seeing as how some days they had asked her to seek professional help. Together is a strong word like love and hate. Together means with each other, not separate, as one. Together is a commitment that many cannot comprehend or handle, and for that she knew she would be fighting alone. Despite what she and others tried to convince herself, the girl knew that Karen was not some simple creature living within her, one that she could simply blame all of her problems on. Karen was her, and she knew it, she just never wanted to accept the reality that she was the cause of her actions and their consequences. Death laid softly in her eyes as she closed them with care, as though if she were to shut them any bit hastily a demon would come out from the shadows and drag her away. "Five more days" she had told herself, and repeated any time she was in need of motivation. She did not measure time in weeks or months or years, but only in 24 hours periods as to not overwhelm her with the existence of time. "Five more days" she repeated, before falling into a cold slumber.