Spirit Blood

Chapter 4: Remorse

Morning came, and the beams of sun were dimmed by ominous clouds masking the vibrancy of its sky.

Alexandra could feel the little sunlight breaking through the blinds. She rose from the pile of clothes. Her hair was bundled up in tangles and felt stiff. All the remnants of dirt and sweat that were left in her head had hardened overnight, causing her hair to lose all its luscious bounce and glow that it had last night. A pair of purple underwear was stuck to the top of her head, but she didn't notice.

She yawned and smelt the odorous stench of her breath. Her mouth was dry and her halitosis was doing her no justice. She stretched her arms out to release the tension in her joints. They cracked with each movement she made, lessing the rigidness in her bones.

She got up from the closet and gazed upon Farah's room. It was much messier than she remembered form last night. She could finally see the circumstances which Farah decided to surround herself with in her room.

Her desk was overflowing with papers, wrappers of junkie snacks, and small nick nacks. The floor was no exception. Her rug was dis-array and all her old school supplies were pushed against a wall, stacked high. There was no order to how she stacked them. A small book had a large textbook stacked on top of it or vice versa. And for her closet, Alexandra was already quite familiar with its condition as she had spend the last hours crapped in it, sleeping.

Farah was still sleeping. Her eyes were glued shut but her mouth was wide open. Drool was running down her face and dripping onto her sheets.

Alexandra looked around her room to see if she had a clock anywhere. She saw that Farah's phone was resting on her nightstand near the bed.

She pressed the home button to awaken the phone. It turned on and in bright white text, she read the time. 7:15 AM.

In her head, she calculated how much sleep she had gotten. She estimated around three hours. Based off her knowledge from ninth grade biology, she had only gone through one REM cycle of sleep. It was enough to function but not manage.

She decided to lay next to Farah and join her in slumber. It was indeed Saturday, a day meant to sleep in and recover from hangovers and last night mistakes. For Alexandra, it was time to sleep away her memories.

She lifted the crinkled blue paisley comforter and casually cuddled herself next to Farah. As she rested near her, memories from year past came to her mind.

It had been over a year since Alex and Farah hung out together in her room. The last time she could recall being with her laying in bed together was two Halloweens ago.

That night, Celeste Farah and Alexandra had just returned from a Halloween party quite early. Something had happened at the party and Farah was rushing to head home immediately. All three of them were still in their halloween costumes when they got to her place. Celeste had ordered pizza and desserts to help ease Farah's pain. She thought that through the power of junkie comfort food, Farah might feel better. But she was still in tears.

Farah was laying on her bed, leaning on her side, crying painful tears, willowing her sorrow. Celeste was trying to comfort her, rubbing her back while attempting to feed her a slice of cheap, greasy pizza. Alexandra was sitting behind them, devouring slice after slice of pizza, watching Farah as she cried, unsure of what to do.

Farah had just seen her boyfriend at the time, Mathew, at the party. She hadn't expected to see him there, but he was, and with someone. She had gone up to him to say hello. His back was turned from her when she approached him. But before she could manage to great him, she saw that he was kissing someone. Her heart had dropped. At that moment, she was desperately wanting to escape. Celeste and Alexandra had gone with her to the party and were obligated to leave with her since she was the designated driver.