
The heavy stench of unwashed flesh and dirty sheets comforted him in the dark, silent dorm room. Molding scraps of processed food products clung to the trash littering the floor from his few ghostly mid-night forays to the nearest mini-mart. Turning over in his own filth, he covered his sunken eyes and cheeks with the malodorous quilt to shut out the pathetic ray of sun invading through the gap in the curtains covering the frost-bitten window panes.