ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
-VampireRoses1223
A loud ringing woke me from my sleep, and it groggily grabbed my phone, noticing it was already 10 a.m.
"Shit..." I sighed as I dropped my arm and laid there for a moment, too tired to move. But I knew I had to eventually get up. I had to go to work.
"Dammit." I sat up and rubbed my tired eyes. I stretched my arms, and yawned. "Huh?" I asked confused. My body was covered with the blanket, even though I was sure I'd fallen asleep over the covers, not under...
I lifted the blanket and noticed I also had a t-shirt and a pair of pajama shorts on. "I don't remember putting clothes on..." I thought out loud, climbing out of bed. I silently vowed to myself to never drink whiskey again, obviously it was a lot stronger than I thought it was.
For one, it made me feel like a complete drunk, sloppy mess that couldn't stop crying, secondly, I didn't only feel drunk, it also felt like I had munched on some shrooms for a snack or something, which was the only logical explanation to the hot man hallucinations. And thirdly, my head was pounding, and I felt extremely light headed right now.
Never again whiskey, never again. It would be a miracle if I could even stand past 12.
I looked at my phone again, seeing that the battery was critically low. I was too drunk and tired to charge it last night...
I quickly put it on the charge and left it on my nightstand. "I feel like crap..." I mumbled hopping into the shower, which I took my sweet time in.
But just before I could start enjoying the hot cascading water on my skin, my phone started ringing. I paused, my heart feeling like it had just jumped right out my chest.
I know being startled by a ringing phone is being a little too paranoid, but with what happened last night, I was still on edge. I know none of it really happened, but somehow it felt so real, it was hard to keep convincing myself that it wasn't.
And speaking of feeling so real, the man I saw in the hallway bathroom, I knew the instant I saw him, or reimagined him, every detail about him was exactly the same, other than the missing cuts, bruises and gashes. And the way the water glistened of his skin made it appear so real...
I once heard that when you dream or imagine things, your brain can't make up faces. You only have dreams or daydreams about faces you've already seen somewhere. And I can swear on my life that I've NEVER seen that man before in my entire life... Except for the part where I uh... Ran him over with my car...
A tinge of guilt hit me, and I winced internally. "Wait, why am I worried about a figment of my drunken imagination? He wasn't real..." I closed my eyes and tried to let the refreshing water take my thoughts with it down the drain, but my phone started to ring again.
I gently banged my head against the shower door. Apparently nothing was going to let me enjoy my shower. Sighing heavily, I turned off the shower and wrapped myself in my fuzzy and now warm blue towel.
I grabbed my phone off the nightstand and my eyes squinted in confusion. "No missed calls...?" I gasped. "But I could of swore I heard my phone ringing... Oh God." I clutched my head. "It's happening again..." I moaned out in aggravation.
"No, no it's not. Your imagining it. Your still tired, the whiskey you drank last night must have been expired, or something... It was alcohol poisoning, nothing else and nothing more." Even though I had just gotten out of the shower, I could feel goosebumps starting to appear on my arms and legs.
I took several deep breaths and put my phone back on the charger, only to jump back and scream at the top of my lungs.
There, on my nightstand, was the coin necklace I had thrown out the window of my car. I closed my eyes and started to pace again. "Why is this happening to me?" I could feel a headache coming on, and I rubbed my temples. "I threw that necklace out the window, I know for a fact I did. I threw it out the window!" I felt like I wanted to roll into a ball and scream my head off.
"Wait." I suddenly froze, and my eyes shot open. Was this the curse that the old woman was talking about?
"The curse..." I suddenly realized. I picked up the necklace and observed it carefully. "If you're causing this, you little shit, I swear I'll...."
This is what it had come to. Swearing out and threatening a necklace.
"Oh God, that old woman was right." I dropped the necklace on the ground and stepped back in horror. This necklace drives you crazy. With hallucinations of running people over with your car, ringing phones that weren't actually ringing, and hot naked men in your bathtub.
"Wait, she said anyone who owns the necklace is stuck with the curse... So if I throw it away, it won't be my problem anymore would it?" I smiled in relief to myself, quickly picking up the necklace and running downstairs, out the door and to the garbage bin on my driveway.
I opened the lid, and tossed the necklace inside. "Ha!" I laughed folding my arms. "You can't torment me if you're in there! I disown you, so you're not my problem anymore!"
I laughed to myself victoriously, but noticed something from the corner of my eye. I paused laughing, and looked over to the right.
My next door neighbor, Daryl, who had been watering his flowers, was looking over at me as if I'd grown a second head. My eyes widened, and I looked down at myself.
I was still wearing my towel. And I was talking to a necklace that was in a garbage bin.
"Oh God!" I hissed quietly to myself, covering myself with my hands, and smiled nervously at my next door neighbor. "G-Good morning Mr. Gonzalez..." I laughed dismissively as if nothing at all had happened.
He didn't reply, he only kept holding the hose over the rose bushes and kept gawking at my deranged state. "I see you're uh... Watering the flowers... Nice, nice... So uh, I happen to notice that they are kinda, drowning..." I gently hinted at the fact that he had been overwatering the roses since he was so distracted looking at me like I was crazy. "I think you should uh... You know what, I'm just gunna... Go." I smiled like the wreck I am once more, and ran quickly back inside my house.
~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~
"Ms. Russo, you're late." My manager stood there calmly, crossing his arms as I was busy rolling up my sleeves and putting on my apron.
"I know Mr. Sinclair, and I'm sorry. I just had... A little incident this morning. But it's been taken care of, so it will be the last time I'm late, I promise!"
He stared at me sternly, and sighed in annoyance. "If you know your going to be late, you have to call in ahead of time. Do it again and you're fired." I looked down and nodded quietly.
Seemingly satisfied, he grumbled a few last words and marched back to his office. I know it's was my fault, so I can't complain.
And he has every right to fire me, it is his cafe after all. Yeah, I work at a little and slightly unpopular coffee cafe called Sinclair's. Other than the bad lighting, the cheesy coffee cup wallpaper, squeaky chairs and old tables, the coffee wasn't actually that bad.
"Seren, you decided to show up huh?" My co-worker Kylie bumped her hip against mine, and I rolled my eyes as I smiled. She was around my age so she was easy to befriend and talk to. I never see her outside work, but it's still fun to socialize with her during work.
She had straight dark orange hair and beautiful big brown doe eyes. I've never seen her go a day without make-up, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. She was the fine definition of beautiful. But when she saw my face, she looked over at me concerned.
"Oh my God Seren, look at your eyes!" She leaned in close and her eyes scanned mine. "You look like you haven't slept at all. Is something wrong?"
I gave her a halfhearted side smile, and she knew something was indeed wrong. "What happened?"
"It's nothing too important. But... Me and Ryan... Things didn't work out." I rubbed the back of my neck as I looked down. I felt ashamed to be telling her this. I always bragged to her about my 'perfect relationship' with Ryan. If we went on a date, she was informed. If we ever shared a romantic moment, she was also informed. Every little romantic detail she already knew, because I was the one bragging to her about it.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" She gave me a tight hug, and I returned it. "No, don't worry about it." I felt even more ashamed. I didn't want her pity. It was nice to have a shoulder to cry on, but to someone as beautiful as her, I probably seemed like a 'no wonder' case.
I even hid the fact that it was on our 5 year anniversary that we broke up.
"Hey Kylie, table number two's order is ready." A familiar male voice had called from the back, slamming down on the bell that stood on the counter connecting the kitchen to the cashier register's counter.
We both shared a look of awkwardness, and Kylie pulled away from our hug. "Well... This creates a nice atmosphere..." Kylie smiled at me awkardly, and I felt a singe of pain cross my heart. "Yeah..."
She turned away and grabbed the tray of expressos and walked past me giving me a 'I'm sorry' look. I knew I couldn't avoid this moment forever...
I'd have to face it eventually. "Oh, hi Seren..." The same voice called out to me, and I looked over my shoulder to see my ex-boyfriend smiling at me awkwardly, his work clothes already dirty with coffee stains.
Yes, that was the awkward confrontation I had been expecting. A very awkward run in with my ex-boyfriend, who also happened to be my goddamned co-worker. And also the man who had mercilessly broke my heart just the other day.
"Hey."