Something About Alice Murphy: BOOK 1

P A R T - N I N E

Chapter Nine; The Photographs.
January 1st, 2019.
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Alice opened her eyes slowly, feeling an ache behind her eyes before she'd even gained full consciousness. "Mm..." she groaned... opening her eyes a little bit to see the light pouring in from the large window to her left. She was lying on her side, facing the rest of a room she didn't recognise and furrowed her eyebrows.

Her body ached, and her lips felt dry and her throat felt sore... how much had she drunk? She couldn't remember. She lay there for a while, slipping in and out of consciousness until she heard a door open. "Is she still out?" A voice asked, she recognised it to be Noah Wilson a few seconds later.

"Looks like it." Another voice grumbled, and Alice recognised the voice as Magnus Johnson's, or at least her chest did before he'd finished his sentence. It seemed to tighten and ache, which only made her want to go back to sleep.

"What did you say happened again?" Noah asked, sounding concerned as Alice heard footsteps and closed her eyes tighter, but then remembered she needed to relax in order to pretend to be asleep.

"I was talking to Trey and Charlie when she stumbled into my dads office, she was pretty gone already." Magnus replied, sounding like he'd stayed by the door as Alice felt Noah's presence beside her suddenly. "I can't really remember but yeah I thought it would be a good idea to put her to bed,"

"I could've driven her home if you'd told me sooner," Noah replied and Alice felt the air go slightly strange, as if it had suddenly gotten colder and harder to breathe. Magnus didn't reply, but she heard his footsteps retreat as if he'd left the room. For a moment or two the room was silent, and Alice felt some hair be removed from her face, which made her flinch slightly at the surprise. "Alice?" Noah asked, and touched her shoulder gently. "Are you awake?"

"Hm," she hummed, pretending to wake up and opened her eyes slowly. Her gaze landed on a messy haired Noah crouched next to the bed she was lying in, his glasses were off and for a moment she almost didn't fully recognise him. He looked so different, a good different, without the large big rimmed glasses that took up half his face. "Oh god, don't look at me,"Alice groaned, lifting her hands to cover her face as she rolled onto her back whilst wondering if she looked as bad as she felt. "My head is killing me," she mumbled, mainly to herself instead of Noah.

"Do you remember anything from last night?" He asked, keeping his voice fairly quiet so he didn't aggravate her headache.

"Oh I don't know," she replied quietly, dropping her hands from her face and looking up at the clean white ceiling. Memories came back in flashes, like snippets of a movie she didn't really pay attention to. "Um..." she hesitated again, remembering the loud thumping music and the taste of alcohol on her lips. Her ears were ringing now, and at the memory of the taste of rum she felt her stomach turn. "I think I drank a lot," Alice murmured, sitting up slowly and wincing as her stomach turned again.

"I think so too," Noah chuckled, sitting up properly and smiling warmly at her. "You disappeared and next thing I know Candice was telling me you'd been put to bed," he added with a playful smile as Alice blushed in embarrassment. "How do you feel? Do you need some water? Or something?" He then asked as Alice sighed heavily and tried to push the feeling of embarrassment down along with the urge to throw up.

"I don't know," she replied, wanting to shower and clean up a bit, since she felt vile in more ways than one. "I'm not sure how to handle this," she mumbled, pressing the base of her palm against her forehead.