Glitterdust (Completed)

36. Sneak attack

I open my eyes just far enough so I can see the digital alarm clock. Seven o'clock in the morning, it reads. My first game today starts at ten. It's too early to get out of bed and I wrap myself once more in the warm comfort of the duvet. If I'm lucky I can catch another hour of sleep, maybe even two.

After that unsettling conversation with Dan, I had a hard time falling asleep. Most of the night I have been twisting and turning, not knowing what to think of that phone call. Who were those people with him? Why were they laughing? Millions of questions were somersaulting through my mind, leaving me spinning through all possible emotions; anger, anxiety, self-doubt. I wanted to call him again, ask him what was going on, but I never did. In the end, I must have fallen asleep, but I doubt that it was enough. Even if I don't fall asleep anymore, some rest is still nice and I close my eyes.

And open them right away when I hear someone banging against the door. I know that this was the reason why I woke up in the first place.

"Elise!" I hear a deep voice say behind the door, the words are accompanied by more banging. "Open the door. I know you're there."

I groan. It's too early to see anyone. "Go away," I say. My words are smothered by the pillow that I pulled over my head.

Al bangs one more time against the door. "I can hear you, Elise. The walls in this hotel are paper thin."

"Fine!" Frustrated I throw the duvet on the ground. The gesture isn't as fulfilling as I thought it would be.

I open the door in my pajamas. "What do you want, Al?"

To my annoyance, my voice sounds as crumpled as the sheets on the bed. I rub my eyes as they're burning from being awake the whole night. Wearing those contacts today will be painful.

"Are you more of a coffee or a tea person in the morning?" he asks, holding up two styrofoam cups.

"I'm more of a bed person," I say and I yawn loudly. Did he seriously wake me up for this question?

"I guess that means coffee." With a crooked smile on his face he hands me one of the cups. It contains a lukewarm fluid that could be either coffee or very strong tea. The smell of the liquid makes me a little less grumpy.

"I wanted to talk to you last night, but I couldn't find you anywhere," Al says.

I walk back into the room, place the cup with the brown liquid on the table. I sit down on my bed. "I didn't want to talk to anyone."

"Well, I wanted to talk to you," Al states. "I think you better get dressed. This is a bit awkward, with you in your pajamas. Take a shower and I'll wait for you in the hallway."

With resolute steps he walks back to the door. I sigh as I let myself drop back on the mattress. It's tempting to pull the duvet back over me and ignore Al. How many minutes will it take before he wakes me again?

But Al must have thought the same thing. "You have ten minutes to get dressed and then I knock down this door. Am I clear?"

"I need my sleep!" I say.

"I know you longer than today. You should have thought about that before you spent the whole night breaking your head about that game. Now get dressed."

I want to yell at him that he's not my dad, and that it wasn't the game that kept me awake, but I know he's right. When I was younger I could fret about every base I lost during a game and I remember losing a lot of sleep thinking about what I did wrong. So I take a quick shower, put on my clothes. I stare at the wig. I'm not sure if I can handle the feeling of my skull getting crushed this early in the morning, so I leave it in the room.