Itching with hives from Benadryl and an old face mask

remove mask, rinse face, apply moisturizer, look in

mirror, panic, apply ice pack, lay down

stand up, steal Benadryl from roommate’s medicine

drawer, sip water, swallow pill, head back on silk pillow

close eyes for thirty minutes, wake up choking. look in

mirror again, panic, google search “what to do when you

have an allergic reaction to something that is supposed to

stop the allergic reaction you are already having,” back

space entire search bar, google search “allergic reaction to

Benadryl”

look in mirror again, quarter sized hives replacing my freckles

text roommate “sorry not going to be able to take your senior pics

today, having weird reaction”

lay back down, write in notes “Benadryl bad,” throw face mask away

fall back asleep, have wild dream of face mask climbing out of trash

can and applying itself all over my body. blue itchy clay molding around

every nook and cranny of me

it molds me to my bed, then finds its way downstairs to raid my pantry

I have an out-of-body experience, watching myself swell—

picture Violet from Willy Wonka

I pop, exploding Peter Thomas Roth’s clay mask all over my

white bedroom. how did it know I wanted new wallpaper?

phone lights up, email from United Apartments stating that it

is a violation of my lease to decorate my walls, consequences

soon to come

United Apartments Trash and Waste Removal Company knocks

on my front door, mask lets them in, directs them to my bedroom,

they scoop me up with shovels, pealing toes and fingers off

my curtains and newly decorated walls, transport me to their private

dumpster where I become one with the trash

wake up to the sound of birds chirping, I must’ve slept through the

whole night