Prolouge and Chapter One

A Chapter by Anene

Alex Payne wakes up from a night of heavy partying and a hangover from hell.

Prologue

She had exactly…let’s see, three dimes, a quarter and ten pennies. It didn’t amount to the seventy-five cents she needed to pay for the community bus that would take her home. Speaking of which, the stupid bus was running late for an early morning schedule. She contemplated asking a passenger on the bus for the balance but scratched that idea. The community buses were old and lacked the current digital counters so she’ll toss it all in and let the jiggle and quantity pass itself off as seventy-five cents. That’s what the public bus system deserved for being late.
She sighed and sat down on the bench, spread her legs out and dumped the grocery bag filled with a bottle of Aspirin, (five-finger discounted of course since stupid Ralphs won’t sell to a fifteen year old) angel hair pasta and sauce by her side.

It was a quiet Saturday. There was barely a soul on the streets of the all-American suburb she lived in by UCSD. Everyone was either at work, or getting ready to go to the beach otherwise still stuck in dream land. Except for her. But it was all for a good cause. She’d rather be out here anyways than have to deal with Venus, the blond-witch of the west who was currently the girlfriend of the man of her dreams. Huge bummer! That loathsome creature with her tongue piercing had annoyed the hell out of her acting like she was married to Alex daring once to boss her around. She fumed on the inside as the image of Venus draped over a dead-to-the-world Alex at seven in the morning when she had woken up earlier floated into her mind. He’d never let any of his girlfriends stay over before; but then again, he’d also never been as wasted as he got yesterday either, hence the trip to the grocery store at eight in the morning. She didn’t understand why he wouldn’t tell her why for the past four years, he got dead drunk on the same month, on the same date with the same pain on his face. He became unlike the serious criminal-justice-major-college-student she depended on for the remaining 364 days who also worked a part-time job on campus. Her speculations were that it had something to do with his family whom he absolutely refused to talk about and whom she’d never seen.

She sighed again. She hoped Venus was gone by the time she got back. Her eyes followed an elderly jogger who ran on the opposite street, a dog leash in one hand with a Dalmatian at the end of said leash. They passed her and turned the corner at the intersection heading into the street full of residential retirees. She laid her head back on the wooden bus stop bench, eyes closed as the morning air washed over her face. She loved the weather at this time of the day. It wasn’t cold or hot. Something that wouldn’t last long come mid-day as people milled to the beaches of La Jolla.
She felt the shadow over her face and opened her eyes to stare into the visage and crooked nose of a stony looking man. She jerked up, a movement too slow as the black bag came over her face blocking the blue sky. She clawed at the darkness as she felt rough hands cover her nose and mouth, restricting her breathing and ability to call for attention. Her last thought before she lost consciousness was of her mother and the last dinner they had eaten together in her home country Nigeria, when she had been eight.

*****

In my fear and flaws

I let myself down again

All because, I run

Till the silence splits me open, I run

Till it puts me underground

Till I have no breath

And no roads left but one

-‘No Roads Left’ by Linkin Park

Chapter one
The house was pleasant enough to the eyes. It had a paint job that cloaked the age of the structure beneath. It had no backyard. The house was average in terms of width and length with five dorm-sized rooms. The current residents had the suspicion that the house originally had three rooms but they weren’t going to fret about it. Luckily, it was ideally located ten miles from the outskirts of UCSD campus and twelve miles from the beach; a college student’s haven.

The house possessed the basic functional amenities. There was no fancy chandelier hanging by the door, no marble floor or stove counter. But there was a kitchen with black tile floors; white ceramic counter top and a living room big enough to hold a pool table but instead had a mini Foosball table currently littered with beer cans and a shirt. Luckily it had two bathrooms; one of which was located up the wooden stairs on the 2nd floor in between the two bedrooms. The sun filtered in through the partly opened shutters in the second bedroom atop the stairs, bathing its sleeping resident in golden light.

*****

He was on the beach of La Jolla. He could tell because he was seven years old and that was when his family had still lived in the city. They always came here together as a family. He was sitting under the umbrella shade with his mom beside him reading a medical science book. She was in shorts and plain white t-shirt and a hat. He looked up and spotted his older brother by four years waving at him from near the waves before he was plucked like a feather by their father and playfully carried across his shoulders, running into the crashing waves. the seven year old smiled and looked at his mother for confirmation before dashing as fast as his muscles will let him towards his brother and father. But before he could get there, the ground opened up and he fell into a bottomless black hole.

Alex Payne opened his eyes, instinctively shying away from the light. There was an ache in his chest that always accompanied the dream; the longing of the little boy fresh in his heart. He groaned out loud at the pain in his neck, courtesy of his awkward sleeping position where his head had been hung back over the edge of his bed. He got up quickly and regretted it instantly. His head felt like it was going to explode from the pressure. It was like ten elephants were doing the Rumba on his brain. He looked around him. At least he was in his room even though he had no recollection of finding his way there. S**t! He also had no recollection of ever being so wasted that he couldn’t remember anything from the previous night’s events. He hustled out of his room and gingerly made his way into the one at the end of the hall.

Michelle wasn’t there. The Disney princess themed room was empty. She had always been without fail by his bedside every time he woke up from his yearly drinking binge, concern in her eyes. She was probably pissed at him to no end and would probably give him the cold shoulder for the rest of the week. At least he hoped it was the reason she had broken her pattern. He heard movements coming from below and pictured her already making lunch as it was already past one pm, so says the wolf shaped clock hanging in the hallway. If anything, she loved to cook. He went into the bathroom and stared at his reflection. His eyes were bloodshot and he looked like a bum. His short black hair and Bud Light had apparently become best buds the way it was matted together. He was still dressed in the same clothes from before and it reeked of sweat, Bud Light, and ew Venus’s perfume, lilac and something else a man should never smell like. So she had probably been over the night before at the party and they had been close enough for her perfume to rub off on him. He’d been meaning to break up with her for the last week but never got around to it. Michelle didn’t really like her and in all honesty, he just wasn’t in the mood for a relationship anymore. It was too draining. And not to mention, Venus was just too pushy and a little needy. Neither of which he had the energy for.

He looked in the mirror compartment for his bottle of Aspirin and found it empty. S**t! He showered as quickly as possible and managing only to throw up once. It had felt good. After dressing in blue jeans and the first t-shirt that was hanging in his closet, he proceeded to put his room back in order but looking at his bed brought back the images of his dream and he lost all enthusiasm for straightening it out. His stomach growled and he decided now was as good as any to start nursing his hangover.

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