Double Assignment

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"That's it!" I groaned as Kim's cheery voice filled my ears, further  accentuating the throbbing in my head. " No more of this! You're going to get your butt out of that bed right now!"

"No." I curled deeper into my duvet and crushed my fluffy white pillow over my head. The soft material seemed to muffle Kim's screams and I enjoyed a moment of silence. That is, until I felt it being yanked off my head again. " Kim stop. Please."

"No, Diane." A cold gust of wind rushed towards me and I shivered in my barely existent nightgown. " You're going to get off that bed this instant."

"Kim." I buried my face deeper into my mattress, the comfy mass of foam threatening to choke me but I didn't care. If I was  going to spend my last days on Earth in this bed, then so be it. " Leave me alone."

"Or what?" I felt the bed dip under Kim's weight. " You've barely left that bed in the last four days. I don't think you've even showered."

"So you just want me to get up, huh?" I propped myself up on my elbow, my eyes connecting with my roommate's face. Her short blue hair was now cut in a bob style and fringed at the front.  Some guitar-designed hairpins adorned the right side of her hair and her shimmery eye shadows complimented her whole ensemble. " Are you heading out?"

"Yes." She beamed, tucking some strands behind her hair." There's this concert right after class today and I don't want to miss it for anything in the world. And I'm going with this guy ......wait a minute, nice try."

"What did I do?" I plastered on a fake smile. " You complain that I'm not nice, I'm giving out a compliment and you're doubting me."

"Exactly my point." Kim swatted my arm and I almost fell back, a sharp pain shooting up my veins. " You're trying to change the topic. At least get-up and brush your teeth, you smell like you've been eating out of the garbage truck for weeks."

"Har har." I rolled my eyes, nothing comical about the chuckle I gave. I cupped my hands in front of my face and instinctively puffed into them. I recoiled at the pungent smell that hit my nostrils almost immediately.

" You didn't tell me it was this bad." I clamped my hands over my mouth, muffling my words in the process. Kim laughed heartily and I gave a quick death glare. "Give me a minute." I jerked off the bed and padded towards the bathroom. My bunny flip-flops squawked against the smooth top of the tiled bathroom floor. The white walls seemed to converge in on me as the gory images of that night came creeping back. I squinted my eyes and I could make out those dreadful words I'd seen the other day. My mind flicked back to the mysterious letters I'd been getting and I found myself trembling slightly. I'd gotten more of the letters but I didn't bother to check them. I wasn't in the right state of mind for any more shit.

Shaking my head vigorously and further upsetting the bird's nest atop my head, I grabbed my toothbrush and began the monotonous task of cleaning my teeth. I was a mess. My hair was tangled and mangled up in ways I never thought existed. If I thought I had bags before, these were even worse. My skin looked pale and my lips were chapped and dry. To sum it all up, I could easily pass for the walking dead.

Rinsing my mouth clean and spitting out the remnants of the cherry-flavored toothpaste into the sink, I walked back into my bedroom.

"You're still here?" I came face to face with a bored-looking Kim. She was swiping across the screen of her phone while humming a song I vaguely remember. " I thought you'd have left by now."

"And skip knowing the reason why you've turned yourself into a trash monster? No way." She slid her phone into her pockets and tapped the bean bag in front of her. " Sit."