Ella had slept, just like she'd told Daniel and Iris she would. The thing is, she hadn't slept very long.
Just half an hour after falling asleep on her laptop, she'd gotten up and gotten dressed (in that same crumpled Walmart dress), and she'd gone to the door (there was knocking, you see, and it was LOUD). The horrible furniture was making its way down the stairs, and it took her a moment to realize why. It took her a moment longer to realize the man at the door was holding Home's cage out to her.
The sugar glider peeked its tiny head out of its hammock, and Ella promptly started sobbing. The delivery man handed her the cage, and he took off after the pink furniture with frightening speed. Ella, left alone, settled Home in the corner of her bare room, and then she smoothed out her dress.
She was going out.
The alcohol in her system completely eradicated her fear, and by the time she was on the sideway and swaying outside, she felt a little better. The moon was up, and she hadn't puked on anyone yet.
In the end, she chose a bar because it smelled familiar, not because she actually intended to drink. She slid onto a barstool, and she agreed when the man beside her offered to buy her a drink. She didn't know what, but she accepted, and she leaned both her elbows on the bar as she waited for it, looking over at the man as he talked to her about her hair. Her hair?