Paint the town red

Chapter XXXVII

I woke up when it was the middle of the night, or early morning, and if it hadn't been for the streetlights, the room would've been dark, like in a real dungeon. Reaching for the phone on the bedside table, I looked at the time and immediately regretted it - the backlight of the phone in such a dark room can really dazzle. I immediately closed my eyes and tried to recover from the bright flash, and when my sight returned to normal, I looked at the screen - 4:52 a.m. and a bunch of unread messages and missed calls. What does it mean? That I slept for more than twelve hours?! Normally, I'd have jumped at such a realization, but now I was so lazy to move, and I had nowhere to hurry, so I just took the phone and put it screen down on the bed until I finally woke up from sleep.

I don't know how much time passed while I was just lying in bed and staring into the darkness of the room, but it seemed to me that time had frozen. It was very quiet at home, and I was all alone - Yuki had left for his week-long practice, so he wouldn't be back for a few days. On the one hand, I am glad that I can finally be alone, but on the other hand, I am too used to the realization that I haven't lived alone for a relatively long time, so being completely alone is something new for me.

When I felt that my head was more or less clear, I picked up the phone again, because I had to look at who called and texted me. It's funny, I didn't even hear my phone ringing, and I was even more surprised that the sound was turned off on it, although I remember perfectly well that I didn't turn it off.

I opened the list of missed calls and smiled when I saw that of the twenty-three calls, sixteen were from Max. The other calls were from Frederick, then in the evening one from Esteban, one from Logan, Yuki called me twice, Lewis called once and one... Liam. What did he want from me?

I immediately decided to check the messages, because there were many of them. Of course, Max was the leader in the number of texts, and I can understand him - he worries about me, because we're not strangers to each other. He asked where I was, what was wrong with me, if everything was all right and everything like that. Then, apparently, someone told him that I was at home, as his messages from the concerned became more caring. I read the texts from him, but the latest messages made me even laugh. It turns out that after work he called me and checked if I was asleep, and when I still didn't answer any calls, he "resorted to using a copy of the key" and came to my house. It was he who turned off the sound on my phone, for which he asked in messages not to swear later, and it was he who undressed me and covered me with a blanket. Okay, stop. I turned on the night light and looked under the duvet - I was in my underwear. Holy shit, I didn't even feel getting undressed and literally put to bed like a baby? It's funny, and cute, and scary.

I remembered that Esteban had given me a pill, so maybe it was because of that I didn't feel anything? I got out of bed and found a blister with pills in my jeans pocket, then returned to bed and typed the name of the drug into the search bar. I was lucky that the drug is quite popular and the instructions with a clear description were available at the first link. I looked at the complex chemical names and medical terms, and then flipped to the list of side effects. And what was my surprise when there was no drowsiness among them. But it was written that the drug helps to reduce nervousness and improve the quality of sleep. Maybe my worries about the upcoming conversation with Liam played a big role here, as well as insomnia and a pill on top - as a result that's an almost insensitive sleep lasting a little more than fifteen hours?

After reading most of the messages and answering some of them, I'm sure to get angry answers, because nobody likes to receive messages at 5 a.m., I got out of bed and went to the shower. Water has always helped me relax and put my thoughts together, and now I have a couple more hours before work, so I can take my time.

The shower, instead of the usual fifteen minutes for me, took almost forty today - I wanted to stay longer under the jets of warm water that so pleasantly enveloped my body. My head began to clear up gradually, and I no longer felt somehow broken. Apparently, the prolonged sleep really worked for me.