It was approximately one week and two days before Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans when my best friend and I moved into our new apartment. Saturday morning Stephanie and I fought the hot New Orleans heat and humidity and unpacked the U-Haul and then spent the rest of the night and next day setting everything up and making it our new home. \r\n She and I had our own rooms and bathrooms, which were connected by a living room and a small kitchen. The entire apartment reflected who we are. We had our old individual belongings and also a good majority of new apartment furnishings. The week we lived there was filled with many dance parties, fancy dinners, late night movies/ gossip, studying, and visitors.\r\n I was at work when we were urged to evacuate the city due to Katrina. I arrived home and Stephanie was already packed. She had left Saturday afternoon. We said goodbye thinking we would see each other within a few days. I had to wait for my boyfriend to get off of work to come pick me up to evacuate. He did not get off work until two o\'clock in the morning. Until then I sat around, bored and alone. Once he arrived to pick me up, I set down the drink I was drinking, took my one suitcase, and hit the road.\r\n Four months later when my section of town was allowed to enter the city again, revisiting my apartment was depressing. Stephanie had gone back to her hometown in Pennsylvania and has never returned. Walking into the apartment for the first time was indescribable. The smell was the first element to be noticed and the mold was the second. Creeping from the refrigerator into every wall crevice and onto the floors was a thick layer of fuzzy mold. \r\n Everything I owned and everything Stephanie owned (excluding the one suitcase we both took with us) was no longer useful. Walking into my room, I had a heart wrenching feeling because my jewelry was spread out amongst my bed. Not that every piece was valuable, but I felt violated. Similarly, I collected what items of Stephanie\'s that I could. Leaving the apartment I vividly remember taking one look around and looking at that glass I had left on the table the night I had evacuated. \r\n Looking at the glass had made me think about a lot of things. Katrina not only took my apartment and my belongings, but it also took my best friend and a lot of my happiness. An apartment which my best friend and I made bright, happy, and vibrant, is now dark, glum, and lonely. \r\n