Beep...
Beep...
...Beep...
...Beep...
...Beep
...Beep
The blue world around her was fuzzy and lifeless. Her head swam as she dragged herself out of bed and towards the bathroom, throwing herself at the toilet. The buzzing and beeping of her watch, making her cringe at the abrupt sound. After emptying the contents of her stomach into the white bowl, she fumbles with her watch straps, and when it's off, she chucks it into the other room.
Laying her head on her arm, she tries to regain a sense of what happened the night before. People dancing, loud music, and drinking clouds her vision but the rest of the night is a complete blur. She didn't even remember how she got home and why she was only in a pair of underwear and an oversized t-shirt that wasn't her own.
Pulling herself off the floor, she brushes her teeth and looks at her reflection in the mirror, "Charlie, what did you get yourself into?"
Rinsing her mouth out and then wiping it, she climbs back into her bed that, to her surprise, stayed warm. Glancing at the alarm clock, she groans when it reads in its angry red numbers - 10:19. She couldn't go back to sleep now; it was too close to the afternoon.
Snuggling deeper into the warm covers, she didn't even check her phone on the nightstand. The concept seemed so foreign.
After laying down for a few minutes, she ended up swinging her legs to the side, wrapping herself up in a blanket and made her way to the kitchen. Getting out a coffee cup, she places it on the counter and then pours herself a cup of coffee. Drinking it black instead of putting anything in it like she normally does in the morning before work. When warm liquid touched her tongue she instantly chugs the rest of the contents quickly before pouring more coffee into the cup.
Moving herself back into her bedroom she grabs her phone and glances at the notifications. She's got a few texts and a missed call from Ali and one text from an unknown number. Unlocking her phone, she reads the text from Ali and sees that it's mostly gibberish. The girl was drunk texting again.
Looking at the text from the unknown number she reads, "Hey Charlie, you got a little hammered last night so I took you home. You threw up on your clothes so that's why I changed your shirt. Your keys are hanging up. - Ryan."
Ryan was at the party last night? Why can't she remember anything? Maybe Ali might know. She don't even think she drank that much.
Clicking on Ali's number, she bring the phone up to her ear and listen to the rings. "Oh hey Charlie..."
Her voice sounded groggy, like she just woke up. "Hey sorry if I woke you up..I just wanted to ask you some questions about last night."
"No..no..your fine...ask away, chika."
"How much did I drink last night? I didn't think that I drank too much." She asks, uncertainty coating her voice.
"You had a couple of beers like normal but you started to act a little weird, especially when Ryan showed up. Then you kind of disappeared and Ryan showed back up and said he'd take you home so we let him. We knew you'd be safe with him."
Originally her mind picked up on the red flag but something pushed it out, like she didn't need to be worried about the possible danger of Ryan taking her home. "Well I'm going to let you get back to sleep. I'll talk to you later."
"Bye chicka." The phone clicks off and she brings it away from her ear. Setting the phone on the nightstand next to the bed, she rises to her feet and start the process of getting dressed.
Taking her shirt off and she instantly see claw marks rapping around her waist. Confusion found its way to her face. How the hell did she get claw marks on her waist? Does she have them anywhere else? What the hell happened with Ryan last night?
Walking into the bathroom she squats down and grab the first aid kit from the cabinet under the sink. When she began to clean the wound she expected it to hurt or to burn or sting, something at least but there was nothing. It didn't hurt. She quickly bandage it and then quickly throw on a pair of jeans, a t-shirt, and her black converse before throwing her brown fluffy hair into a messy bun. Grabbing her purse and her phone, she runs down the steps of her apartment and walks out on to the busy sidewalk.
The fresh air hits her nose causing her to stop for a brief second and let her skin soak up the sun. She didn't think she could manage living in Alaska. Its just to cold. She never never liked to be cold.
She needed to find out what happened with Ryan or at least what happened when she 'disappeared'. That was very unlike her to do.
Her phone begins to ring, without looking at the collar ID, she answers in a friendly tone, "Hey Jace."
"Meet me at Carlton's Coffee House." He says with no emotion in his voice, "I want to talk about last night."
"Wha-.." Before she could finish her sentence the other line went dead. That's so unlike Jace. He usually talks more and she knew from past experiences getting Jace off the phone was a very hard thing to do.
Walking to the side of the building, Charlie grabs her bicycle and quickly gets on it. Moving her feet to the pedals, she pushes forward, making the bike go forward. Peddling a little faster, she gets to her destination in under ten minutes. A small wave of anxiety washes over her as she puts her bike in the bike rack before she locks it in place.
Looking in the shop window closest to her and sees Jace. He looked different than normal. He looked frazzled. It was a very weird thing to see. She wondered what waited for her inside..