I would like to stay anonymous as I share this heartbreaking story about my very last time in an NYC homeless shelter. It was the middle of the night and I heard some shuffling around me. I was very tired so I just put my pillow over my head and tried to go back to bed. A few moments later the sound was closer, louder, and it sounded like my things! This time I removed my pillow from my head and my sheet from my body; I sprang up from the bed and saw two men at the side of my bed going through my garbage bag of things. I didn’t have much time to think and it was so dark. I grabbed the first guy I could and I started to yell to get the attention of nearby authorities. I heard feet shuffling, some people waking up, and others getting out their beds. The lights randomly turned on and I was blinded momentarily. When I regained my vision, I looked I was on top of a young man and the other “man” appeared to be his sister. It seemed that they were stealing things just to survive. The administrator and guards weren’t far away, I could see them coming down the hall. I looked around more people began surrounding the three of us and my things. I didn’t know what to do next, so I got off the young man and said “what the fuck? Why are you trying to steal my shit?” He replied, “ sorry man, need money it’s either you don’t have a pair of shoes or my sister and I don’t eat tomorrow.” I was shocked. I kind of felt guilty for standing up for myself. I looked up again and the administrator and guards were less than 100 feet away. I thought back to when I first became homeless and how desperate I was for necessities. I also began to remember my first day at this shelter and how the first thing the administrator told everyone was violence and theft are not tolerated and anyone guilty of these acts would be forced to leave immediately and banned for good. I looked back up and they were working their way through the crowd. I had made up my mind. I was tired of the shelter and needed a change of scenery anyway. They came and I stood up and said: “This little shit was looking at my shit the wrong way, I had to let him know I ain’t no punk.” The security guards began to approach me and I said: “don’t worry I know the drill, I’m gone, man.” I grabbed my garbage bag and walked out. As I walked out, I looked around the place one last time. A huge white hall with rows and rows of bunk beds. On either side of the bed, there are garbage bags stacked on top of each other. In each bed: a man, woman, or child. Some beds were empty because children would sleep in the same bed with their parents. It smelled like bleach because a custodian would mop twice a day with tons of the stuff; once in the morning and once at night. I got to the door, it had a flickering exit sign. I pushed it opened and never turned back. A few tears shed because I didn’t know what I would do in the middle of the night in NYC but man I did right by those kids and I still had my stuff anyway!