Gaze - [h.s.]

❖ Chapter 7 ❖

I follow him through the large crowd until we get to the door I came in through. I stumble on my feet a few times, but I find my balance. When he opens the door for me, the bright normal light almost brings back my migraine. As I walk through the door, I know that I'm being watched. I can physically feel his eyes rake themselves down my body, and I suddenly become shy and self conscious. Any sort of confidence I once had is now gone and the only thing I want is to curl up into a ball and disappear. I'm still buzzed by my drink from earlier, which was way too strong for my liking; I drank it anyway.

"Stay here," I hear him say from behind me as I soon see him move around me and he disappears behind a wall. Probably into the kitchen to get me another drink. I know it's a bad idea, but I don't know how to say no to someone so gorgeous. I find a love seat in the middle of the room I'm standing in and I plop down onto it. I start to search for my phone, not being able to find it anywhere. I must've left it in the room of migraine hell. I groan and lean my head back against the plushy cushion. I need to find Kira. I need to find my phone, and get out of here. It's been way too long. I never should've came to this party.

I go to get up, but Harry comes back through the hallway he disappeared into before but with a small glass in his hand. Very, very attractive hand.

I am so drunk.

He hands me the small glass and I look down at the brown liquid. I swirl it around, watching it splash up the sides. He walks around and plops down next to me. I can feel him looking at me, and I know that I'll feel bad if I don't take at least one sip of the drink. I tilt the small glass up as I drink, not realizing that I drank it all in one sitting until I feel an enormous burn in my throat. I quickly put the now empty glass on the coffee table in front of me and start coughing. I need to go home. Now.

"I-I need to... To find K-Kira," I stutter, and I don't even look at Harry before I get up off of the expensive love seat and stumble my way back into the room of migraine hell to get my phone and search some more for Kira. I start to feel tired. Really tired. I start to see the galaxy of colors you see when you get up too fast and I have to lean against the door frame to regain my balance. What feels like hours but is only a few minutes, the colors and blindness haven't subsided. I start to feel as if I'm going to throw up and I feel along the walls to find my way outside. I was panicking, and I was scared. What if Kira left without me?

I finally find the front door and I stumble through it. I'm shaking and I feel like I'm going to pass out. This is not what being drunk or what alcohol poisoning feels like. I've felt both. I kneel over something cold and stone and I throw up. I don't throw up much, but I still throw up. I feel like I hear footsteps behind me, and I cringe at the sound. I feel like I hear multiple voices, but I can never be sure. I slip down the hard stone and I sit on what feels like grass so I can try to figure out what made me feel this way. I know that I'm drunk, but I also know that I don't have alcohol poisoning. Last time, it took me about fifteen shots of whiskey and seven glasses of mixed drinks to get poisoning. I've only had two drinks.

This time, the footsteps are really loud. I hear shouting, but it sounds quiet to my ears with the unknown substance traveling through the blood in my veins. I feel like I'm being touched or pulled, but I can't see anything and I feel close to numb. The next thing I know is my vision goes completely black and all atmosphere I can sense fades out.

***

I awake with a foggy vision and minimal lighting. I am sitting. My ankles are roped together, as well as my wrists, and my waist is tied to the back of the chair. A thick strip of duct tape is placed over my mouth, and my cheeks are itchy and dry from being tear-stained. I can feel myself trembling, so much that I feel like my heart could jump out of my chest and hop away.