Historias

The Morning After

To be quite honest, this was not how I had expected my morning to go at all. While I did plan for a slight hangover, waking up laying by the pool wasn't exactly my intention. Shaking my head, I walked into Mia's house, heading for the bathroom. I passed a few strangers sleeping on the stairs; cups littered the floor as well as a few empty bottles, and weirdly enough, some puddles of water.

My hand ghosted over the bathroom light, turning it on and startling me a bit. My face was deathly pale and a bit swollen, my eyes stared back with a bit of a haunted stare. Huh, I really went to town on that rum.

As I flicked off the switch and headed back out to look for my friends, a blood-curling scream cut through the air. Mia. I raced towards the source, my feet so fast they barely even touched the ground. I skipped over crushed beer cans and the heads of half-awake drunks, heading for the pool. I reached the pathway that led to the water, only to find Mia violently sobbing and pointing to a figure in the water. A body. Getting closer, I saw the body was wearing a top similar to mine, and it too had braids like mine... No. It couldn't be. I stared into the water, feeling lightheaded, and heard Jamie's clacking heels rush to Mia's side. He gasped, and covered his mouth, "I saw- She was- I didn't- Last time I saw her, she was sitting by the pool. I told her to get away, 'cause she was already pretty drunk, but then I got distracted and I never- Oh God!" He stuttered out.

"No guys! That's not me! I'm standing right here!" I chocked out, gasping for air. My heart raced a mile a minute, and I couldn't wrap my head around the situation. My friends couldn't see me, they couldn't even hear me. I moved over to them, waving my hand in front of their faces, but they didn't even acknowledge me. What was going on? I couldn't remember much of last night past one AM, which was when I had gotten my hands on an entire bottle for myself and stumbled outside. Oh, dear God, had I fallen into the pool? Was I actually dead??

I crumpled to my knees, sobbing, and whimpering uncontrollably. The whole world faded in and out of my perception, scrambling my senses and leaving me even more lost than I already felt. What would they tell my parents? And my sister? A thousand questions race around my brain, and an overwhelming feeling of dread settled within me.

Suddenly, like a light at the end of a tunnel, I heard a faint voice behind me. I tried to focus on it, decipher what it was saying. "Sa..." "Hey Sar..." It sounded eerily like Jaime's voice, and a flicker of hope ignited in my chest. "Sarah! Hey, Sarah! Turn around!"

I did, and as I turned my head, the party came back to me in full swing. I was sitting on the edge, my feet in the ware and a half-downed bottle of Bacardi in my hand. Jamie's hand landed heavily on my shoulder, "Sarah, get away from the pool, you're way too drunk for this. How many times..." He trailed off, staring into the distance. "MIA NO!" he hollered, chasing after our friend, who was apparently trying to climb a tree.

I sat there, dumbfounded, and thoroughly confused by the last half hour of my life. My eyes drifted to the bottle in my hand, my feet in the pool, and then the people dancing, drinking, and making out around me, all of them unphased by what was seemingly a premonition of my death. Climbing out of the edge, I took a few steps away from the water, better safe than sorry. I chucked the bottle with a little more force than necessary at a group of nearby fraternity boys, who caught it and cheered at me, making me glad to have it out of my sight.

As I walked into the house and grabbed my jacketand purse, I tried to make sense of everything that just happened. I opened thefront door and stepped out onto the street. Maybe I should let parties go for awhile. At least those that were near pools.