ELECTRIFIED

CHAPTER 7

TRIGGER WARNING: if you have not read the trigger warning, please look at chapter 1! this story has potentially triggering content!!

Joey slowly opened his eyes.  His throat was dry, so he quickly reached up to grab his glass of water.  It was now room temperature, but he didn't mind.  He drank the whole thing in one sitting, then wiped his lips with his arm.  He took a long, deep breath while his thoughts collected themselves.  For a moment, he was peaceful.  He had no worries, he had barely any thoughts minus how refreshed he felt after taking those sips of water.  He wanted more, but he decided to stay on the bed for a little while.  He turned his head and saw Alicia's bed, which was empty.  He then noticed light shining from behind the blinds.  Slowly, he regained his own thoughts and he tried to figure out what had happened.  The few seconds that it took to remember felt like several minutes.  He looked around the room, at the alarm clock by Alicia's bed, then realized he didn't have his phone with him.  His heart pounded suddenly as he realized what had happened, and what he'd done, and why he was there in the first place.

    "Shit," he hissed as he threw the blankets off of himself.  They fell in a heap on the floor by his temporary bed.  Quickly, Joey pushed past Alicia's bedroom door and walked down the cold hallway floors.  Despite his intense anxiety, Joey noticed the house looked a lot happier in the daylight.  He saw his phone lying face down on the glass table.  He didn't see Alicia, which he thought was bizarre, until he heard the shower running from the bathroom.  He picked up his phone.  "Fuck."  His phone had died overnight.  He speedwalked back to Alicia's room.  The smell of flowers was strong in there, he hadn't realized until then.  He saw her charger hanging from a plug.  It wasn't being used, luckily.  He plugged his phone in.  Impatiently, he turned his phone on over and over again.  The only thing he got was a low battery screen.

    Then, he got the little Apple symbol.  He picked the phone up quickly, his fingers already tapping on the screen wildly.  He quickly entered his passcode.  His phone opened, and with swift, shaking fingers, he opened his messages.

    When he saw the message, which displayed as read, he was confused.  He wondered if he'd left the messages app open when he'd thrown his phone onto the table.  Then the fear settled in.  His stomach lurched and he opened the message.  The first thing he saw was the picture, and he felt something that was similar to a kick in the stomach.  Had he really done that?  He stared at it for several moments, then looked at his hands.  He began to panic.  He was shaking like mad as he scrolled up.  The message was so long.

    As he read it, his eyes began to water and frustration bubbled in his chest.  He expected this response, but it still hurt.  He barely finished half the message before he broke into tears.  He cried until he couldn't even read the text.  Slowly, lowered his head.  Tears continued to escape his eyes.  His lungs suddenly begged for oxygen and his entire body jerked as he gasped loudly.  He wiped his eyes several times, then finished reading the rest of the text.

    Alicia finished her warm shower.  She was worried about Joey.  Her shower was pretty loud, so she couldn't have heard him if he'd woken up.  She finished her hair and face care, then walked out of the bathroom.  She opened the bedroom door slowly.  She saw Joey curled up on the fold out couch.  She bit the insides of her lips as she turned her head slightly towards her bed.  She saw his phone charging with her charger.  She knew she didn't plug his phone in, which meant he'd seen the message.  She took a deep breath.  She wasn't sure if Joey was actually asleep, but she decided not to bother him.  So, instead, she sat in the living room, worried.

    She soon realized that if she was to call in sick from work, she'd have to do it soon.  She walked into her room again, where Joey was still lying completely still, in the exact same position as before.  "Joey?" she whispered.  He peeked from under the blanket, his eyes puffy and red.  She didn't react, or tried not to.  "My work shift is in a few hours, do you want me to stay here with you?"