Melodramatic Metathesiophobe

Rude Awakening

Morning fought his eyelids, forcing them to open as he became aware of consciousness. He didn't hear it so much as he felt it when a moan of pain slid past his lips, rumbling dryly in his throat, because his head was pounding worse than his rare hangovers.

He sat up and the world tilted--the rushing wave of pain incredible behind his eyes, and he dug his fingers into the fabric of the couch, realizing that morning wasn't the only thing rousing him from his rather deep sleep. It almost made him nervous to see exactly how late into the afternoon he'd slept.

The other portion of his awakening came from his ringing phone, and he had to remind himself for the millionth time that he needed to change his ringtone volume.

His route from getting up off the couch to his kitchen counter was a rough one. He stumbled more than he'd like to admit, almost ending up on the carpet a few times, and the thought crossed his mind that he wouldn't have minded. The carpet seemed comfy enough for a quick nap.

But he picked up the phone, not really sure how many rings it had left until it went to voicemail, and hated the sound of his own voice as he croaked a 'hello?'.

"Ray? That you?" came a voice that took much longer to identify than it should have.

"Mikey? Oh, yeah, hey, what's up?" his attempt to sound okay was palpable, though possibly not believable.

"Checking in after the bar the other night," he said after a pause, "did you swallow a pinecone?"

"No? I'm just tired," he sat at the counter, rubbing his temple, "head is pounding, man. What do you mean the other night?"

"It was the night before last night, thought that was too wordy," he could hear Mikey pour himself a drink--definitely coffee--and got jealous, "why, don't you remember?"

"Uh, oh, yeah, definitely." Ray did not remember. It was just last night, wasn't it? He glanced at his calendar hanging above the light switch, a bit unsettled when he realized that, yes, it had been an entire day since.

"You sound off," Mikey mumbled after a sip of his presumed coffee, "did something happen? Were you drinking last night?? Oh, yeah, that would explain the headache--"

"No. I wasn't drinking." he said defensively, refusing to believe that could have been the cause of the time loss and sight of the creature, even though his brain kept yelling at him that it was very possible, "I went into the woods to walk it off. Must have angered a coyote or something."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because I have way too many scratches to deny it?"

"Do you need me to come over??" Mikey seemed to get worried. He was always that sort of friend, all through high school he would watch to make sure Ray would have lunch, would offer to help him if his grades slipped, and even pitched in to help Ray get his first guitar. He was like the little brother Ray never had, but that he wished he did.

"I don't think so, I'm probably just fine," Ray shrugged a little, closing his eyes as the sun from the window had started to burn his retinas, "just need to sleep off the headache," though he knew it was futile. He could already hear Mikey rummaging around.

"I'll be there in ten," he said, and hung up.

Ray groaned, leaning back and hearing his stool creak, tugging on his hair. That wasn't enough time to clean himself up after that night...

He decided a quick shower was all he could do, so he started to take off his bandages and painfully make his way to the bathroom. He didn't think any sort of painkiller could numb the headache and thus didn't bother taking any.

//Author's Notes\\

So! I know I'm already breaking my promised posting schedule, but this part is pretty short and I'm super excited to get more out to you guys!!

Thanks for all the positive feedback on the first chapter, I hope you're all as excited to read more as I am to post more!!

~XO, Vacant.~