It was a terrible hangover. Friday the 17th flashed into my mind. That's when we crashed at Jack's reunion party. Never did I expect a hangover. My head felt like I was being mauled by an angry Hippopotamus. And my left hand was numb, probably because I was lying on my arm like this all along. I rolled to the side, to relieve the pressure, only to be welcomed by a sharp spasm in my shoulder. What was I doing? Wrestling with that Hippopotamus? I wanted to look around, but was blinded by the darkness. "Where are the lights, man?" "Is anybody around?" I attempted to yell, but yelped instead. Nobody responded. I guessed I was alone. Slowly, I tried to get up, as life flowed back into my left arm. I had no idea where I was, and how I came here. I searched for a switch to turn on the lights, if there were any. Like a desperate blind man, I patted on the walls in hope of finding a switch. "Oh man, now I do feel guilty for making those jokes on blind men", I said; To myself. Only after about 5 minutes, I did find a switch and thankfully, the maintenance work in this room was satisfactory. Well, it was a stupid feeling when I found myself in my own basement.
I climbed the stairs, and felt the gravity double itself with each step that I took. "Hippopotamus, stop pulling me". I felt so lonely. Last night was fun. It was the time of our lives. Jack, Rob, Mike, Josh, Kate, Rose, Sarah.. Almost everyone from our High School Graduation batch had come for the reunion party. But now, it seems so.. Silent. I went up to the kitchen to get something to eat. My stomach was grumbling. I felt like I hadn't eaten anything for ages. I opened the refrigerator and felt a subtle, chilled breeze. I picked up a bottle of milk, and found a can of beer behind it. "The irony", I said; To myself. I realized that I was so thirsty that I emptied the whole bottle in 4 gulps. Boy, that was some very high craving. But I was still hungry. I grabbed an apple and headed for the basin to wash it up.
I saw my reflection in the mirror and I was shocked to see myself. I had developed dark circles below my eyes for the first time in my life. My hair resembled a patch of dry grass in my lawn. Withered and shabby. I was prepared for Halloween, and I didn't need a costume.
I picked up my phone, took a bite off that apple, and unlocked it. The time read 05:36 pm. The date read 21 December, 2012. "3 days! I had been knocked out for 3 whole days!" No wonder I was that shabby. And thirsty. And hungry. I took another bite of the apple. A notification popped up, saying that I had 2 messages, 7 unattended calls and 1 voice mail. 7 calls. One from each of my friends. I opened the voice mail after I quickly took another bite.
"Hey Dylan, it's Josh. What's up mate? Last night was bloody awesome! Everybody loved it. Sarah's already planning for another party next month. Right now, we're heading out to the beach. Come on over, a'ight? Did the hangover pass yet? Call me up when ya get this message. See ya there, mate." Well, damn that. My hangover was extended by 2 long days. Sorry Josh.
I dialled Josh's number and finally finished that apple. But I was still hungry. My phone beeped thrice and flashed a "network unavailable" message. "The network has still not got over its hangover", I chuckled. I was so occupied with the thoughts of my hunger that I didn't realize that I was still in my jeans. Quite uncomfortable. I checked my pockets and found my car keys in it. "I sincerely hope that I didn't drive home drunk". I pulled the window blinds up and found the car safe from any marks of crashes; Though a bit oddly parked. "Okay, so I did".
Putting things aside, I wanted to go out for a walk, despite the cold weather. But I decided it would be better to take a bath first. A hot shower in this artic chill would be refreshing.
My shoulder was still hurting, and I still had no idea how, or why. I turned my back to the mirror, to watch that shoulder. It was a clot, not of a deep cut, but a long one. And the skin around it had reddened. "Bloody hippopotamus was whipping me". I washed it up with more water, applied some antiseptic and topped it with some bandage. "Now it's time for that walk". I grabbed my jacket and stepped out.
Oh boy, was it cold? My bones were shivering. It was quite dark. The streetlight was out, as usual. I pulled my phone out and tried to call Josh once again. After a pause, it responded with "Sorry, the person you are trying to call is currently busy or unavailable. Please try again later". Yeah, well. I dialled Sarah's number, hoping she'd pick it up. But no. The same ballad reappeared. "Oh come on. Bloody network. Stay with me for once at least", I cussed and slipped my phone back into my side-pocket. 3 days. I still couldn't gulp the fact that I had a 3 day long hangover. I didn't drink that much. What happened? I never went out of control before this. Why only me? Seemed pretty weird. Or fishy? Nah, maybe I was the only one to be blamed. I decided that it's best I don't drink anything anymore.
The cold breeze swept again. I could see dense clouds forming in front of me every time I exhaled. I sat down on a nearby public bench. It was so peaceful. I bet anyone who needed a serene environment would find euphoria here. I picked up my phone and browsed through the photos I took Friday night. The party was at Jack's home. Home, haha. It was a mansion. It was so spacious that even if twenty people were there in the house, one would still feel lonely. Kate was there too. Jack and Kate were undoubtedly the best buddies in High School. Always shared their things, even if those included things they'd need to keep uncontaminated by our influence. Rob and Mike were quite the hip guys. Rob was an impressive drummer, and always had the word about him buzzing around the campus. Mike was a splendid guitarist. He could compose and play any tune anywhere. "Just need my Guitar, bro" was his common dialog. Rose was typically a smart, beautiful, conserved girl. Very calm, but she would make her presence felt. It was amazing how she blended into our group so smoothly. And then there are the three of us. I, Josh and Sarah are one hell of a trio. Josh was my buddy since childhood. We share tons of memories together. And scars too. We met Sarah, the most cheerful and joyous person I know, in ninth grade. And we were good friends since then.
I peeked at my watch to look at the time. I didn't realize that I had been sitting here for more than an hour! The time was 07:22 pm. I tried to call Josh again. Beep.. Beep.. Beep.. Beep.. Beep.. Beep.. "The person you are trying to call is currently busy or unavailable. Please try again later". "You forgot to say sorry before starting, you stupid machine!" I grumbled. I got up and headed to Josh's home.
I didn't notice that a lot of streetlights were out of order in the lanes adjacent to 4th street. The maintenance people were getting lazier day by day. The luminescence under the moonlight was enough to keep me from bumping into the trees, poles, cars and other random objects around. I wished I'd avoid hitting the chilly breeze as well. Across the street was a bungalow with a broken window. The window blinds were unfolded, and I could see inside. Suddenly, the lights flickered, and dimmed down. I froze where I was. The chill ran through my nerves. "I've seen this. I've seen this before", I muttered. Deja vu is what they call it. I continued my path. I had seen this very recently. But when? I had no idea. It was 07:43 when I crossed 7th street. 3 more streets to go for Josh's home. Incidentally, many of the streetlights in almost all the streets I crossed were very dim, or not working at all. My stomach started to grumble even more and now I needed some grub. Sudden joy took over when I remembered that I always keep a bar of chocolate in my jacket. I wolfed it down. But, I was still hungry. The silence now started to annoy me. The monotonous slur of the breeze and rustling of the leaves was now getting to my head. Something was bugging me. No, not my stomach. I stopped to look around. Weird. Where was everyone?
Submitted July 16, 2016 at 02:35AM by thelethargicdog http://ift.tt/29V91aD nosleep
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