Vacancy

My right nipple is all black and blue. She bit it last night out of malice. Her teeth are nefarious entities epitomizing her wrath. I only wanted to move to a vacant room across the hall and a few doors down. The tenants moved out and, like all our neighbors, we did not know them. She was instantly angry upon hearing my suggestion and she demanded why I’d want to make such a “useless” move. I couldn’t tell her that the vacant room was on the side farthest from the street. She doesn’t know how the sound of traffic affects me. If she knew I’d only feel the continuous taunting bite of her scorn.

She slept on the floor last night. I did not sleep well. She periodically meowed or hissed me out of my dreams. I swear her teeth glow in the burnt orange of the city’s night sky filtering through our filthy window.