Illustration by Pascal Girard.

“Earlier today I shat in the dark,” I type to Aubrey on Facebook chat. “I just felt so lonely in there. It was a real eye-opener.”

“I am a visual person,” Aubrey types. “If I can’t see my body, it’s like I am not sure it’s there anymore.”

I tell Aubrey that I was sitting in the bathroom reading a short story about a person paying another person ten dollars to go away. Then I heard one of my roommates walking toward the kitchen and the power went out. I wanted to keep reading but couldn’t see anymore. I tried squinting a little but it didn’t do anything.

“I got drunk on Pabst last night,” I type. “Sitting in the dark I felt slow and headachey and unresponsive. There was a pain in my brain and it felt like it was ...