Escape

I don’t really remember when Stradlater got back from his date with Jane. Before he came I had been so worried that I was looking out of the window and thinking. I didn’t like the idea of Stradler dating Jane at all. I knew Jane very well from my childhood. She wasn’t the prettiest girl in the world but there was something amaizing and special about her. While my roommate was getting undressed I started asking him questions about his date with Jane. He told me that they had spent the whole night in Ed Banky’s car. Ed was the basketball coach at Pencey. That depressed me even more. I stared attacking Stradlater. The more questions I was asking, the more pissed off he was. Finally he hit me in the face and knocked me out. I was mad as hell and felt pain. When I finally got up from the floor I decided to go to Ackley’s room. Believe me – you have never been in a room which stinks like Ackley’s room. He was a bit mad at me for waking him up when I came into this terrible stinking bedroom. I sat down on Ely’s bed and told Ackley about the tiff with Stradlater. Then I asked whether I can stay, but Ackley said that wasn’t a good idea because he didn’t like other guys sleeping in Ely’s bed. After a couple of minutes I was in the corridor thinking what to do next. There wasn’t anybody there and the atmosphere was very depressing and sad. Finally I decided not to visit any of my friends in their rooms as it was pretty late but go back to New York. I wanted to go there and then stay in a hotel till Wednesday when the vacation was starting. So I went back to my room to start packing. When I was ready to set off I took a last look down the corridor and yelled at the top of my voice to sleeping guys. After that I reached the station and found out that I would have to wait only ten minutes for my train. I was cold and my nose hurt. I had blood on my face and felt horrible.

'Holden in Ackley's room' author: Alicja Cwalina