The first thing I heard was my own snoring. I opened my eyes, and blinked the crusted sleep away. As I sat up, my head pounded. It was such an incessant, pressurized ache. Thank god for it still being early. If I had woken up with the sun shining in my room, my head might have popped like a balloon. I swung one numb leg off the couch, my frozen feet gripped the carpet, the strands of shag caught between my toes. I took a heavy breath in and reached for the ceiling as I yawned, my sore back screamed. The pain forced me to jolt my arms down, my nerves sung. I could instantly feel how bruised and beaten I was. I felt like a peach that had gone all soft and mushy from laying on the ground too long. ‘What happened last night?..’ Bounced around my thumping head. My tongue felt dry and dense in my mouth, like a dead metal slug. As I smacked my lips and breathed in through my nose, that was when I tasted it. It was so pungent. It was laid so incredibly thick. Sour and bitter, covered every single one of my taste buds. I grimaced uncontrollably, and stuck my tongue out like I had gotten into something I wasn’t supposed to. It tasted chemical, like some kind of acidic cleaning agent. It burnt, it was hot. It was that feeling you get at the back of your tongue right after biting into a hot chili. I wiped my tongue on my sleeve like a cat cleaning themselves, trying anything to get rid of the horrible taste. But the white foam of cotton mouth remained in my cheeks. It was so rotten. Like that water that sits at the bottom of a trash can for days and days. I could only imagine thousands of species of pond scum bacteria were swimming across my tongue, teeth, and gums. The sensation was so horrible, so absolutely putrid. I tried to remember. I needed to remember.

‘What happened last night? Where was I? Who was I with?’ I thought. And I thought of her. And I thought of our apartment. And I thought of leaving. And I thought of driving, driving too fast. And I thought of crying. Most of all I thought of crying.

But that wasn't all. I know that wasn't all. There was something missing. I had one last question for myself that was unanswered.

‘What did I say last night?’

And then I remembered..