The first thing he thought of was where he had gone wrong in life, waking up in a pile of trash bags. His eyes opened, but it burned. It felt like acid was poured all over his face. Looking around, he could see the sun peaking at the top of what seemed like very tall brick buildings. It was all coming back to him, little pieces at a time.
He sat up, checking his pants pocket. His wallet was gone, which wasn’t that big of a deal. His phone was missing, though, and that was a problem. He couldn’t call anyone to let him know that he was okay.
When did he even black out? 2 a.m.? 3 a.m.? Why was he even drinking last night? The party, it was bigger, better, more expensive this time. He put back money for it. He wanted it to be the most dominant party he’s been to. He wanted all his friends and all the drinks in the world, and have the greatest night of his life.
He remembered it was his 30th birthday party. It was all coming back. Little by little, but he was all coming back.
Loud music, blasting the club he rented out for the night, some rapper rapping about something that he didn’t understand. He didn’t even know his name; he just knew he was the trendiest thing out there right now. 400 of Ethan’s closest friends were all there. Drinks all on him. Ladies, dancing all over him and his friends. Was his smoking a cigar? It was all hitting him, like bricks.
Then, some of his buddies and him left the club, in the limo that he rented out. He wasn’t so sure, to be honest. After that, he didn’t remember what happened.
He got up, and if it weren't for his clean and very new sports jacket and slacks, he would have been mistaken as just another hobo. He had no idea what city he was in. He didn’t even have the time. The light outside was at the point it could have been morning or almost night time. Someone even took his watch that he got from his father on his last birthday.
It could have been morning. It could have been night. Who knows, maybe he had entered the Twilight Zone.
As he exited the alleyway, he started walking down the sidewalk. Nothing looked familiar. It must have been early. No one was in sight but a few cars. The sunlight was daggering into his eyes. The hangover was not the worse he had.
He did have worse than that. He didn’t feel the urge to puke, just yet. The limo last night was blasting music. He didn’t know what it was. Then there were police lights.
Some guys ran off. Of course, there was a fight, and he had a black eye from it. He had no straight answers to the million of questions that had poured into his head.
He wanted to know who had punched him in the jaw, knocked him off his feet. He could recall if he got kicked in the ribs. He could feel it all in his bones now.
Freeloader, that’s what those guys were, trying to get money and a good time off him. He didn’t know who had punched him, though, but when he found out, he was going to get them back.
He wondered for a second if he had wondered into a ghost town, until someone came around the corner, head down, looking at their phone, being covered by a bright blue umbrella. As they got closer, he waved his hand. “Hey, excuse me?”
The girl didn’t look up until he got in front of her. She jumped, being caught off her guard. She looked up and saw him, making him pause for a moment to look at her, seeing more than just a lifeless, soulless, good-for-nothing body.
She had big hazel doe eyes, a small doll-like nose, too pointy of a chin, bushy eyebrows that looked like it was about to crawl off, cheeks covered in soft freckles.
He looked closer to see that had had green and purple eyeliner on the top of her eyelids. It went well with the blue at the tip of her hair that only went to her chin. She was a very unusual sight, but not the scariest he’s ever seen. Most of the time, he wouldn’t give this girl a lick of attention, but today was not that day.
“What?” she seemed almost alarmed, looking around. “Yes? Hi?” she almost sounded like she giggled.
“Hi, you, do you have . . . The um. . . The time?” Ethan said, seeming out of breath. He tried to not stare too long at her.
She took out her headphones that had kittens on them. When she tried taking them out, they got caught on her earrings.
On the left was a cupcake and on the right was a pineapple. It had thrown him off, trying to make sense of it. He was trying to get his words together, but the shiny dessert and fruit were screaming at him to look at them.
“Time?” Ethan asked as she took out her headphones. “Do you . . . time?”
“Do I time?” her voice was a little more playful than he has excepted. “I don’t know how to time.”
He shook his head. “Do you have the time?”
“7:34,” she said, and then added, “In the morning.”
“Thanks,” he said starting to walk off but stopped. “And do you know where I am?”
The girl raised an eyebrow. It was a strange question he did have to admit. “You don’t know?”
“No, I’m lost.”
“Everyone’s lost,” she said shrugging her shoulders. Ethan’s mouth hung out for a moment. That wasn’t the reply he was expecting.
“Right, yeah, sure. But I am actually . . . lost. Like, I don’t know what town I am in. I blacked out-”
“Drinking?” she asked. He voice was soft, mostly innocent with a hint of being overconfident. She reminded him of a fairy for some reason or a fox. She had that type of face.
“Well, just a little,” Ethan said trying not to turn red in the face. It was just a couple of drinks. His eyes kept wandering off. Every time his eyes drifted back to her, she was still staring straight at him, giving him all her attention.
“Not too little to black out, right?”
“Where am I?” he asked with a sharp, tight tone. Like the type he would use with Tom. He didn’t have time for her, but he felt he need all the time in the world just to figure her out.
“Boulder,” she finally answered. She didn’t look him in the eyes this time.
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