Page 101 of Sunflower Persona
I’m counting that as a win.
“What the hell happened?” she asks as she sits on the edge of the tub.
I try to answer her, but my tongue won’t work. All that comes out is a slurred, incoherent mess. She sighs and grabs a rag from the rack and wipes the layer of sweat and drool from my face before picking a piece of debris off my shirt.
“Stay here,” she commands, as if I have any other option.
That cursed light stays on in her absence, but darkness pulses at the edge of my vision as unconsciousness creeps back in. My friend’s tired voice telling the others to come back is the last thing that registers before I’m dragged under again.
When the next moment of lucidity comes, all three of them are crowded into my tiny bathroom. Karis is on the floor with her back against the tub, while Nathan leans against the wall and Morgan perches on the small countertop.
“Why didn’t he tell us?” Morgan asks.
“Why didn’tyoutell us?” Nathan asks with much more heat.
“It wasn’t my place,” Karis says. “He still has the occasional depressive episodes, but they are mostly managed, and they have been since before either of you knew him. There was no point in digging up bodies that have been buried for years if he didn’t want to. Plus, how exactly would I go about telling you something like that? I can’t just say ‘Oh, by the way, Gage used to be suicidal.’”
“Fine,” Nathan relents, “but knowing could have prepared us better for today.”
“I don’t think anything could have prepared us for today,” she whispers.
“Didn’t try to kill myself. Just drunk,” I slur.
All three heads snap in my direction.
“Well, you scared the crap out of us either way,” Morgan says.
I grumble something unintelligible as my eyes struggle to focus on their faces. There are too many eyes between them, or maybe it’s too many thems.
“Okay, he’s still useless. So what do we do now?” he asks.
“Clean up his mess and keep him from choking on his own vomit,” Karis supplies.
I want to protest that, but the mere mention of throwing up has nausea churning in my gut.
“And once he’s sobered up, I can beat the shit out of him for being a fucking idiot, right?” Nathan asks.
“Once he’s sober, you’ll have to get in line,” Karis replies.
“I’ll take care of Gage,” Morgan says. “It’s the least I can do after what he did for me last year.”
They grumble their agreement, leaving me with my sanest friend. He hops off the counter and comes to stand at the edge of the tub.
“You really screwed this one up,” he says with more pity than condemnation.
When I don’t respond, he shakes his head and sighs.
“Sorry about this, but you are covered in questionable liquids and smell worse than Cutter’s after a home game.”
His words make no sense until the spray of icy water pelts into me.
Payback is a fucking bitch.
***
Stabbing pain lances through my head, pulsating in time to the beat of my heart, and a wave of nausea rips through me. I crack one lid, but the bright glow from the overhead light is too much for me to bear. It sends another flash of pain into my skull, so intense my vision goes white.
What the fuck happened?
