Learning to Live

Chapter 4

The sunlight from an opened window woke me up. It was so bright that it prevented me from opening my eyes but the sound of footsteps on a wooden floor made me force them open. My vision was blurry but I could still see two legs as they walk passed me. I rub my eyes as my vision came back and was accompanied by a sharp pain in my head.

I groan as I got up to sit. I was on a couch...but not my couch. I scan the room with my eyes. It was not my apartment. My heart starts racing. I touch my chest; I'm shirtless.

Where's my shirt? Where am I?

Music starts playing from another room. I try to stand and follow it.

♫I'm starting with the man in the mirror
I'm asking him to change his ways...♫

The music was playing in a kitchen. A woman dressed in white shorts and a flowy green top stood in the kitchen with her back turn towards me. She was humming and swaying her hips to the music, with a mixing bowl on her hip.

I lean up against the door frame to take in the view. Her dance made me smile a little, even though I was in pain.

"Who are you?" I asked.

Startled, she spun around and the mixing bowl slips out of her hands and broke on the floor. The batter was everywhere. "You're awake."

My mouth dropped open. It's her...its smiley girl. "You...I know you!"

I could tell that she was scared by the way she grabs hold of the kitchen counter. "First of all, I did not kidnap you." She said in a shaky voice.

"I didn't think that you did." I touch my chest again, "Uh...where's my shirt?"

"I threw it away because it was covered in vomit." She places a few tendrils of her curly hair behind her ear. "But I can give you one of my brother's T-shirt if you like."

"Are you sure he..." I stumble a little, "He wouldn't mind?"

She rushes over and grabs me before I fall. The sweet scent of her vanilla perfume hits my nose. I couldn't help but smile when she helps me over to the couch. "Here you need to sit down. Are you allergic to any pain killers?"

"No," I replied as she made her way back to the kitchen.

My eyes slowly started to adjust to the sunlit room. I noticed that the room had a lot of pictures of her and a tall man. There was a picture of her in a graduation gown and with the tall man beside her and another of her when she was a child with her parents, I presume. "Here take these." She hands me a glass of water and two pills.

"Thanks" I pointed at the picture over the fireplace as she sat in the chair across from me. "Who is that?"

"He's my brother, Mark." She smiled.

"Where's he? So I can thank him for the shirt."

"He's in the army."

I got up and grunted at the throbbing headache. Then I picked up the picture and took a closer look. "Be sure to thank him for his service and the shirt."

"Sure." She glances at my bare chest. "Oh, I'll go and get you that shirt." She quickly went upstairs and brought this white V-neck T-shirt down with her. I hated V-neck shirts, they make me look like a douche, but I thanked her and put it on.

"Would you like some tea? It might help with the hangover...and some toast?"

"Sure. Thanks."

I couldn't remember much of what happened last night, but the last thing I recalled was staring at the dark ocean below a bridge. The music stops playing and the house went silent, so I went to the kitchen to see if she needed any help. She was on her knees in the middle of the kitchen cleaning up the mess that I scared her into making.