Rays of morning sun shone upon my face, waking me from my nightmare. My body was numb and I could feel the nausea from the hangover. I could barely reach my phone to check the time. I laid in bed for the next 20 minutes trying to figure out what happened last night.
All I could remember was being so upset about failing my Timeslip exams. I had prepared for that moment my entire UNI career, practically most of my life, so many years and endless nights of no sleep all gone to waste.
Where did I go wrong? I studied everything, I basically memorized the textbook from cover to cover. I even aced all my theoretic practical tests. How could this happen to me
I sulked in bed beating myself up about not passing until I felt I had enough energy to get out of bed. I sat up with my feet dangling on the below freezing floor. "Fuck this apartment tiles" I slid in my morning slides and with a heavy sigh I stood up and walked to the restroom.
standing in-front of the basin with my hand on the counter while staring into the cabinet mirror. I felt anger and pity for myself as I stood there with mascara stains hiding the red puffy face of a nights drinking. It was evident that I was crying last night but I could not remember anything. My aching brain drawing a blank of my pity party. I lifted the cold water leaver and began washing my face. The cooling water soothed my red face
The burning sensation in my stomach made itself known, demanding food or pain killers, I don't know if it was because of the hangover or because I was hungry, so I brushed my teeth to remove the taste of puke and finished up in the restroom.
I slowly made my way to the kitchen while knocking over cider and beer bottles. They were lying all over the place. For someone who is a good drinker I could not recall the last night at all
I opened up the cabinet taking out my favorite cereal and a glass bowl from the opposite side. I walked towards the fridge and stubbed my toe against another bottle "dammit!" I cursed out load.
I grabbed the milk from the fridge rack as well as a bottle of hangover cure and began to pour it in my bowl. If people knew that I threw my milk in before my cereal they'd think I'm a psychopath or something but this way felt so right.
I sat there at the counter eating my cereal slash hangover cure as I stared at my study notes that laid in-front of me. It was as if it was taunting me. I grabbed it and began skimming through it, seeing where could I have gone wrong. The frustration kept building up inside of me and eventually I got a migraine, to top it off the hangover was just getting worse.
I shoved the paper away from me and suddenly heard a noise that frightened me.
Ding dong! Ding dong!
Who could that be? I wasn't expecting anyone. I wasn't planning to open up either, I thought maybe if I just stayed quiet they'd leave.
"Open up, I know you're in there!" It was Brandon, my best friend. "If you don't open up I'll continue to just ring the doorbell Luna!" Knowing Brandon he'd definitely do that, he was so obnoxious. I hadn't told him about me failing my test but he probably figured out by now that's why he's here. News around this town travels fast.
The doorbell kept ringing and now it was just irritating. "Luna Phoenix open up this goddamn door!". I had no other choice but to.
I stood up from my chair that was at the counter and dragged my feet across the floor till the door. I unlatched the door and unlocked it, opening up for him. There I stood revealing myself in an oversized t-shirt I got from a thrift store with my morning slides and my hair in a messy bun.
I could see the look of disgust and concern on his face. Before he could say anything I cut him off "Yes I know how I look and smell okay just don't say anything".
"Luna what are you talking about? I was so worried about you I called several times had you not checked your phone?" I was shocked I was not expecting that to come out of his mouth. "No I had not checked my phone, I was busy as you can see" . I rolled my eyes as far back as they would go. "So are you going to let me in or not?" He questioned as he stood at the door.
I moved making way for him to enter as I walked back to my cereal. "Luna dammit there are beer and cider bottles lying everywhere. How much did you drink last night? So filthy." Already annoyed with myself about failing and here I had Brandon pointing out the obvious making me more annoyed. "Would you stop being such an annoyance and just tell me, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?" I took another spoon of cereal in my mouth.
"I was worried about you, I heard you failed and that you ran out of the office. Are you okay?" He asked with concern in his eyes.
He was sincere and me being my sarcastic self replied cheekily "Wow news travels fast around there hey." I took a long pause before I continued. I look up into his eyes "Do I look okay to you? Of course I'm not okay. I prepared myself practically my entire life for this Brandon."
I know he was just trying to be there for me and I was just being annoyed. I took a deep breath in and exhaled out heavily.
He breathed a heavy sigh
"Look I know yesterday never went well but look I could help you out and try to figure out where you went wrong. Let's go get you some real food and head to the library to study." said Brandon with concern in his tone.
Somehow I was convinced, I really needed to get out of my apartment. "But on one condition I leave like this." I said to him as I pushed my cereal bowl aside after swallowing the last milk. He looked at me and shrugged his shoulders in an indication of why not. He reached in his pocket taking out a ginger ale shot for hangovers. "Wow am I that predictable. i needed another anyway" I said giggling. "Pretty much" were the words that he said under his breath loud enough for me to hear. "Thank you though"
I got off my chair and walked towards him, giving him a gentle kiss on his cheek then making my way towards the door as I grabbed my denim jacket from the coat rack.
"So you're coming or not?" I teased as he stood at the counter shocked. "Wow you caught me off guard" he said giggling while touching his cheek. "How's that for being predictable?" I laughed. Brandon laughed as he walked out the door so that I could lock up.
We both walked towards the end of the passage as the elevator was a bit further away from my apartment. We stood in-front of the elevator waiting for it to arrive. I instantly regretted my outfit of choice while I stared at myself in the elevator doors. It looked as if I had no pants on but I had shorts on and my khaki oversized shirt just covered it up and with my neon pink slides, I looked like a hot mess. The doors of the elevator opened and we quickly got inside.
We both reached out to touch the ground floor button, I simply laughed. I snatched Brandon's black peak cap off his head and slipped it onto my head simply saying "Thank you!". "That's not fair, you insisted on coming out like this." He complained. "Would you just stop whining. Are we going to Subway seeing that it's closer to the library?" I asked as I nudged his arm.
His response was "Yes".
The door of the elevator opened and we made our way to Subway having small talk and teasing each other.
We finally arrived at Subway, it wasn't quite far. It was a 10 minute walk away from my apartment. I ordered for the both of us while he grabbed a place to sit. It's the twenty-third century so it was a screen where you'd order yourself and just pay upfront at the counter. I ordered two Chicken Pizzaiola Melts with large drinks. Once I paid I just had to wait for the meal. "Sorry miss but we don't have large cups at the moment" .at that my system began working. They recently installed a chip in my head so that I could take the Timeslip exam and it was the first time it worked today. It identified that she was lying.
Channeling my inner Karen i made my voice as stern as possible and said "But I paid for two large drinks". Without even repeating myself, she went the back in the storage and got two large cups. "Was that so hard? Have a good day" I said annoyed.
I honestly did not want to sit there and eat so I convinced Brandon to leave to the library and eat while we studied where I might have made mistakes, he agreed and we were off.
We arrived at the library past three and ate. We studied together and went through every syllabus of where I could have gone wrong. Brandon was very helpful.
Several hours passed and it was 9pm.
"Let's call it a night. I'll get you an Uber." Brandon said as he reached for his phone in his pocket. I simply nodded and thanked him "Thank you for helping me and taking out time of your busy schedule for me". His phone went off and it was the Uber driver. He walked me outside and opened the door for me. Before climbing in I hugged him and then got in the backseat. ''Don't worry I'll pay'' he said waving his phone to indicate he'd use his mobile
"Hi " I greeted the driver. "Cute boyfriend" she said. "He's not my boyfriend, he's just a friend." " That's what they all say".
The rest of the drive was quiet. It was just 5 minutes away from the apartment and I was too exhausted to hold a conversation of my life with a complete stranger. "Here we are!" my driver charlotte said. waking me from my light sleep thanking her as I climbed out of the car.
I walked up the stairs checking my mailbox for any mail but there was nothing except the water bill. I got into the elevator and couldn't wait to get inside my apartment. As the door closes I see green lines, I felt pain in my head to the point where I dropped on the floor of the elevator. When the elevator arrived at the fourth floor the greenlights and pain had stopped.
"What was that?" I question as there was still a painful pressure in my head.
Shaking it off I make my way to the apartment and take the keys out of my pocket to unlock the door. The smell of alcohol hit me when I opened the door. I locked up then gathered all the bottles in a black back and put it in the kitchen.
I was so exhausted and couldn't wait to get into the shower. I took off my jacket and slipped out of my oversized t-shirt and shorts and hopped into the shower pulling the warm water lever, waiting for the boiling hot water to hit my back. Only in disappointment to be hit with cold water. I flinched. My head started aching again. I had my back bent because of the excruciating pain as i tried to soothe my head in the palms of my hand
I could hear buzzing and weird other sounds. Suddenly it stopped and I heard my name being called out "Luna!.....Luna!....Luna!".
I looked up and I wasn't in my shower but there I stood in a beautiful mysterious garden I've never seen before completely naked.
"What the actual fuck"