Red Velvet [The Boy Next Door]

Unexplained Hangover

THE BOY NEXT DOOR

 

Copyright © 2012 by Taina Regina

(Title and Cover may be subject to change) All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author.

Chapter 4: Unexplained Hangover

EMBER WOKE UP to a raging headache. Her head throbbed, and the pressure that slammed into her brain stunned her motionless, as she tried to sit up.

“Ouch!” she groaned, slamming a palm on her forehead, falling back down on her pillow. What the hell happened?

She blinked her eyes open, surveying her surroundings. She was tucked neatly in her bed, with no recollection of how she got there. Though, the migraine that was making a soup out of her brains told her that she’d obviously had something that she shouldn’t have.

“Emmy! Wake up!”

Ember felt an earthquake rumbling as her body bounced up and down. Ember groaned and shouted, “Stop it!” but the bed kept moving her. She realized it was her annoying little sister, jumping on her bed.

“Guess what day it is today!” Coral squealed, moving the bed up and down, and Ember felt pressure on her stomach increase by the minute.

“Hell,” Ember commented, shoving an arm out of her face.

“It’s Saturday! It’s Saturday!” Coral chanted, and every time she shouted a syllable, Ember’s body would bounce up.

“Get off, you demon child,” Ember croaked tossing to the other side of her bed, but Coral just jumped higher. Chanting those words in glee.

Ember couldn’t take it anymore, but before she could tell her sister to get lost, her stomach heaved and she hurled up over the side of her bed.

Coral stopped jumping, and screamed. “Daddy! Emmy’s dying!” She shouted, swinging her legs off the bed and made a beeline to the door. Her fast-paced footsteps sounded down the stairs as she screamed a piercing cry.

Coral was such a drama queen.

“I’m not dying, squirt. I’m just…” She wasn’t sure how to finish that sentence. Was she dying? Because the stuff she threw up and splattered on the wooden floorboards wasn’t food substances, but it was a red filmy liquid.

“Daddy! Daddy! Emmy’s dying.” Coral came back seconds later, tugging on her fathers white sleeve.

Ember rolled her eyes. “I am not. I’m just sick, that’s all.” But Coral ignored her and pointed toward the mess on the floor, as if it weren’t already obvious.

“Honey, what’s wrong?” It was her dad’s voice, as he sauntered up to her bed, careful not to step in the mess. He ordered Coral to get a wet cloth so he could wipe it up.

“Dad, it’s nothing. Just the flu,” Ember assured him, but judging from the concerned expression, she knew her dad didn’t buy it.

“You’re paler than usual.”

She rolled her eyes. “Probably a tummy bug.”

Her dad took her vitals, and temperature. Then he frowned. “Everything’s normal. You don’t have a temperature, although your hearts beating a little abnormal”