Words on Bathroom Walls

Adam recaps his recent hallucinations (just Rebecca and a harmless choir). His mother is doing fine with the pregnancy, other than being overly forgetful and emotional. His relationship with Maya is still great, sex and all.

One night, Maya appears to climb through Adam’s bedroom window. He thinks she is leading him outside, so he follows her, chasing her into oncoming traffic. But the vision of Maya disappears when a car hits her. The entire walk home, Adam panics that he had no indication that this Maya was a hallucination. He climbs back into bed with the terrifying thought, “What if Maya wasn’t real?” (211). He worries that he could have imagined their entire relationship. The next day at school, when one of the nuns greets Maya, Adam is beyond relieved that someone else sees his girlfriend, which means that she’s not a hallucination.

Adam’s therapist brings him to an exhibit of art created by people with schizophrenia. Adam thinks the entire thing is a waste of time, except for the baked sculptures. Adam connects with this because it’s something he can do—the baked art is “beautiful because it was real” (216).