TWO

In the morning, rain draws the unnamed narrator to the cell window. The smell and sound make the narrator compare herself to a raindrop, abandoned by her parents and left to disappear. From the window, the narrator can tell the asylum is near mountains and water, but not where exactly.

The cellmate wakes and watches the narrator, making the narrator feel exposed and afraid. When the cellmate asks for the narrator's name, the narrator instead asks why the cellmate is there. The cellmate notices the narrator's fear, but the narrator denies it while avoiding eye contact.

Two knocks announce breakfast. The cellmate, unfamiliar with the routine, grabs the tray too quickly and burns his hand. The narrator explains that the tray must be left alone for three minutes and suspects the staff burn prisoners on purpose. The exchange embarrasses the cellmate, who reacts with anger.

The narrator retreats into thoughts of seeing a bird through the window, imagining it as a symbol of escape. The cellmate lightly touches the narrator's cloth-covered shoulder, and the contact overwhelms the narrator because no one has touched the narrator in 264 days. The narrator feels desperate for touch but also terrified of it.

When the cellmate asks whether the narrator is hungry and then asks about the writing, the narrator becomes more distressed. The narrator tells the cellmate, “You can’t touch me,” while privately longing for contact and revealing that touch causes strange, bad, deadly things to happen. Another knock comes at the end of the chapter, signaling shower time.