Oracle

Alex Ch. 4

"Get up already!" Alex heard his sister yell from the doorway. She sounded odd, like she was congested or wearing a mask. 

He slowly opened his tired, puffy eyes. He nearly looked like he was crying the night before. Or he was hung over. His eyes were red, faintly bloodshot, and his face seemed lightly flushed. 

Alex flopped over onto his back, staring up at the ceiling. His dark brown hair was slightly in his face, causing vivid splotches in his vision. Or maybe that was from the migraine. His head felt sore, like his sinuses and the back of his head were hit with a baseball bat the day before, although he was pretty sure nothing like that would have happened last night.. He didn't get in a fight, right? 

He lifted a hand, touching his face to make sure it wasn't sore anywhere, like a black eye or a busted lip.. No, nothing. Good. 

He blinked a few times, a scowl on his face. He moved his hand down, resting it on his chest. He continued to lay there for a few minutes, his attention drifting away as exhaustion tugged at his eyelids. 

He couldn't even imagine getting up now.. What was the harm in sleeping in a little later? Charlie probably woke him up too early anyways. No one in their family was a morning person, but Charlie always woke up with a purpose. It was like she had a checklist in her head for what she wanted to do that day. Alex didn't really do that.. He just kind of went with the flow. 

His eyes began to shut. 

Even when his brother and dad stayed with them, they would sleep in until past noon. Why not? There wasn't much for them to do in the day, anyway. When was the last time they stayed with them? Alex couldn't remember. He was never a good judge of time.. It couldn't have been since the time he and- 

He sunk further into his bed, drifting back off to sleep. 

"Alex! Get. Up!" Charlie yelled, her voice back to it's annoying volume. She had such an annoying voice, Alex always thought. Even as kids, her voice got on his nerves and he found himself suddenly irritated whenever she spoke to him.

Alex suddenly felt something smack his face. It was heavy, and jolted him awake. A sting of pain struck up the front of his face by his nose. By now his eyes were wide open and he had quickly sat up. He leaned forward a bit as the object fell onto his lap.

It was now apparent that the object was a black tennis shoe. One of Charlie's.. Maybe? What did he care, he never paid attention to anything she wore. 

His eyes glowered down at the shoe.

"I am!" He lied. He shifted his eyes to the doorway where Charlie stood angrily. She had brown hair, which was mildly lighter than Alex's. She had it pulled back in a bun, and was wearing a striped crop shirt with a pair of shorts that went down to the middle of her thighs. 

"God, your room smells like shit. Were you up puking last night, or something?" She grumbled, expecting the question to be rhetorical, as a way to tease and make fun of her older brother.

"Yes," Alex glared at Charlie, his statement firm as if to make a point. 

Charlie paused, raising an eyebrow at Alex.

He grabbed the shoe and tossed it back at Charlie, hitting the door frame instead with poor accuracy. His head pulsed with the migraine.

Charlie put her hands on her hips, her eyes slightly wide, and a bewildered smile. She scoffed, obviously pissed.

"You went to that party last night, didn't you!"

Alex grunted, rubbing his eyes with his hands.

"You dickhead! I can't believe you!" She yelled, the insane smile gone from her face, replaced with a scowl and a heavy glare.