petrichor

Decisions

Talia

Talia's head pounded, her mouth felt dry and sour, and her mind felt foggy. Ugh, what the heck? she asked herself, she could feel the sunlight peeking out from behind the curtains, reminding her that nighttime had passed and that it was morning now, time to wake up and start the day. "Ugh." Talia groaned, she still felt sleepy.

"No seriously, what time is it?" Talia turned her body to the other side and glanced at the digital alarm clock on the bedside table, it read ten fifteen AM. Talia squinted her eyes, "You're kidding, right?" she said in disbelief. Both her parents were on a business trip, leaving her alone for the weekend, and last night she took a chance and went to the club with Crista using a fake ID her friend persuaded her to get a while ago.

The memory of her seeing the dim lighting, strobe lights, hearing the loud music, and numerous people getting drunk was still fresh inside her head. Talia rubbed her temples and lied with her face facing the ceiling, "How much did I drink though?" she couldn't remember for sure, but for one thing, this was her hugest hangover yet.

Talia unplugged her phone from the charger and turned it on, moments later, the notifications started pouring in, one of them from the WILDCATS group. "Huh, what, Nat's in the hospital?" she mumbled. It must be a new inside joke I missed. she scrolled down the messages further, but the words seemed to be floating off the screen. Oh, well, I'll just read it later.

After twenty minutes, she got out of be. In a daze, she went to the kitchen and got herself a piece of bread, it was after that she started feeling better. "Just what were they talking about?" Talia reread the texts from the group chat and this time, the news started to sink in. "Wait, what?!" she exclaimed surprisedly.

Talia reread the texts repeatedly, making sure it wasn't a new inside joke like she thought it was or that she wasn't misinterpreting the sentences, but no, she was right, Natasha was in the hospital because she slit her wrists last night. Talia felt dizzy again, her throat felt tight. Why did she do it? she thought.

She checked the other messages, the Petrichor group chat announced the same thing about her friend, and a reminder from Pandora saying they'd meet at Glenner Park today at ten. Oh, yeah, oh my god, I forgot. Talia slapped her forehead; it didn't occur to her that Pandora was holding a meeting today. "Damn it, why am I so dumb?"

She knew she had something to do today, that was what her mind told her, but after collapsing into her bed from exhaustion last night, Talia couldn't remember what exactly she had to do. Oh, well, it's probably not important. she said to herself, but now that she remembered, she felt utterly idiotic.

Finally, she saw messages from Natasha: one missed call and four other messages asking where she was and asking her if she could talk right now. "Oh my god." Talia rested her head on her hand, "What have I done?" maybe if she had responded to them, none of this would've happened. "Yeah, if I didn't go out last night." she muttered to herself.

Talia visualized where she was last night, taking shots after shots, slowly letting the alcohol take control of herself, nodding her head to the beat of the music when on the other hand, her friend was desperate to reach out to her. Talia almost couldn't believe herself, if only she had stayed at home last night, maybe today she'd meet Natasha and the other members at the park.

She quickly texted Pandora saying she was sorry about skipping the meeting again, but she also stated that she would be seeing Nat in the hospital and asked if she was going to too. Talia looked at the time, it was already eleven, she should probably try to freshen up.

Pandora had texted her saying it was okay and texted the name and address of the hospital where Nat was admitted, Talia thanked Pandora for her consideration and decided that she would be riding with her driver today, even after showering, she still felt disoriented and didn't want to take risks.