Love and Redemption (Completed)

The Morning After

 "Let all your things be done with charity." 1 Corinthians 16:14

"Chloe, sweetie, wake up."

I heard the gruff voice, but my head was pounding and my whole body felt heavy. I groaned and slowly turned to my back. The sun was blinding, even with my eyes closed. I squinted them open as I attempted to sit up. Good gracious my head hurt.

"There you go, take it easy. I'm sure your head must be a massive rock right now," the voice chuckled beside me. I looked over to where I was hearing the voice and saw that it belonged to Don. I then looked around me and saw I was on one of the chairs beside the lake. Did I spend the whole night out here? The pounding in my head reminded me of everything I drank, but I honestly couldn't remember much of anything that happened. 

"Do you want some coffee and aspirin?" he asked. I nodded gingerly, trying not to move my head too much. "There you go, easy now."

I graciously accepted the medicine and coffee as I slowly started to remember everything that happened before my drink. Everything I did leading up to it. It then dawned on me that I was completely hungover and Don was probably here to escort me off the premises. Good. I was ready to go. 

"We'll get you feeling all better then we'll get to work," Don said with a smile.

I stared at him like he had grown another head, "Work?" I managed to squeak out. 

"Well, we are a summer camp of activities, and since you burned your activity book I figured I'd make you one special to you. Plus... there is some damage you caused that we need to get cleaned up."

My gaze traveled down to the ground beside the chair. I saw the charred remains of what was left of my activity book. I didn't even remember doing that last night. A chuckle worked its way up, but as soon as it left me I paid for it with an extra hard pounding in my head. I placed my hand on my forehead and wished for the world to stop spinning. Not good... not good...

Thank goodness I missed Don's shoes. I threw up what was left in my stomach and then some. Don gently held back my hair and rubbed my back until I stopped. I felt awful and just wanted to sleep. Definitely couldn't hold my liquor like I used to. Don handed me his water bottle as I wiped my mouth on my sleeve. I took a swig of the water and swirled it around my mouth to rinse it, then spit it on the ground. My head was still hurting, but at least the strong pounding was going away. 

"Ready to go get a shower and get the day going?" he asked gently as he stood up and extended his hand to me.

Careful to avoid the vomit I took his hand and slowly stood up. My head spun for a moment and and my vision blurred but soon both cleared. I slowly walked around the chair before letting go of Don's hand. I then followed him back up the path towards the cabins. As we walked past them towards my cabin I noticed one had their window smashed out. Mercy Cabin  was the name on the sign and the memory of throwing the rock last night came back to me. Don just walked passed it and I wondered when my verbal lashing would come. His eerie calmness and gentleness was really starting to freak me out. We soon reached my cabin and Don stopped.

"Okay, Chloe. Go get changed, showered, and ready to go. Take your time, I'm sure you don't feel too good right now, but I will say the quicker you finish the quicker we can go get some yummy breakfast."

I stared at him again to see if he was actually being serious, but the smile on his face gave nothing away. I walked into the cabin as Don took a seat on the railing outside. No one else was in the cabin, and I was happy for the peace. No need to answer questions I didn't know the answer to. 

The shower was heavenly, and it helped to wake up my body and clear my mind. It was then I noticed just how hungry I was. I didn't eat hardly anything yesterday, which is probably why my alcohol tolerance was so awful as is the hangover. After drying off I wrapped the towel around my body and began to brush my long, black hair. It reach to the bottom of my shoulder blades and was way over due for a trim. I stopped brushing and leaned in closer to the mirror to look at my roots. My natural hair color was starting to show. Time to dye it again. Definitely didn't want that color showing. I put my hair in a quick French braid then got dressed. Today I decided on blue jean shorts and a black tank top. The shirt showed off my arm and shoulder tattoos nicely, plus I needed a tan. I slipped on my black and white converse, grabbed my sunglasses, and headed outside.