Slime-Cycle (Humble Beginnings)

5. An unfortunate day off

When charlie woke up, the first thing he noticed was the horrible throbbing headache he had. He slowly opened his eyes, only to realise he couldnt see a thing. He tried to sit up, but his back instantly gave out and he fell back onto the couch. He let out a pained groan.

He tried looking around to find his glasses, but instant pain filled his senses. He fell back as he inhaled through clenched teeth. Fuck, what's going on. Where am I?

Charlie heard a voice come from somewhere off in the distance. They seemed worried. He tried to focus on what they were saying, but the throbbing pain in his head stopped him from getting any clear thought.

He pushed himself up against the arm of the couch a bit and leaned his head forward. He grabbed his head and breathed in and out in an attempt to calm himself. The person who had called to him was now standing by the couch, trying to help him relax.

After a moment the pain had subsided a bit, and charlie opened his eyes to see the blurry silhouette of what looked like glasses being handed to him. Placing them over his eyes, he slowing blinked allowing himself to see his landlord puffy, crouched beside him.

He looked at her slightly suprised. "...puffy?" He asked. Puffy smiled.

"Hey! Your awake!" She said with a slightly hushed tone. "You've been out for a while. You really had me worried there." She said with a quiet chuckle.

Charlie looked around, seeing he was in a small apartment. It had the same layout as his, and he could only assume it belonged to puffy. "Where-... what happened?" He asked glancing back to puffy, who seemed relieved.

She sighed, "you were shot, last night in the alleyway. I found you this morning."

Charlie looked at her, and then he remembered. He remembered getting pulled behind the wall, He remembered being shot. And then he remembered the darkness. He remembered the wind. That was the last thing he could remember. But, was that really real? Had that been a dream?

It was the only possible explanation. A horrible nightmare he had after being shot. That's all it was.

He looked down towards his feet. He still had his red convers on from last night. He sighed as he laid back on the couch. "Fuck, how long have I been asleep." He asked looking back towards puffy.

She looked at him, slight worry clear on her face. "Well, you slept for a few hours once I got you here, ...but, you were out there for about 9 hours before I found you.."

Charlie stared back at her in disbelief. "Wh- nine hours!? I was shot! A-and I-" He stuttered out. Puffy just sat there, watching as he grew more and more anxious.

Charlie brought his legs closer to his chest as he sat up fully, feeling the pain from his headache return. "Agh, shit, I need to get back to my stuff, I just- I have to text ted,.. " charlie trailed off. He was sure ted had texted him, and if he didnt respond then ted would get worried. And then hed come check on him and find out he was shot, and then hed never hear the end of it.

While he sat there stumbling over his words, puffy had walked over to the kitchen counter to grab something. Charlie noticed, and he watched as she brought over his bag. She placed it on the couch infront of him, and then stood there with a smug look on her face.

Charlie looked at it. then spoke a quite "oh.." as he grabbed his bag and began to search for his phone. Once he found it he pulled it out and looked over it. The screen was fairly cracked, but other than that it was fine.

Puffy spoke up "You want something to eat? Like, maybe chicken noodle soup?" She asked as charlie messed with his phone. He looked up as she said that.

"Oh, yeah, sure. Thank you puffy..." Charlie opened his messages and sure enough, there was a text from ted.