The moment my eyes opened, my head throbbed. It felt like a sledge-hammer had smashed into it. I groggily wondered where I was. Darkness engulfed me and I heard voices in the background. I closed my eyes and tried recalling what had happened. I couldn’t. I blinked and shook my head, trying to clear my blurred vision. I had blacked out completely and I didn’t like it one bit.
“Don’t bother rejoicing, you fag. Sadly, you ain’t dead yet” a lugubrious voice sneered. I turned slowly to the source of the voice and saw Josh, which didn’t come as a particular surprise. Whenever I was in dire straits, especially when the sun had set, he always happened to be in the vicinity.
Tonight wasn’t any different. I propped myself up and leaned against the wall, feeling nauseous. My friend was still out cold on the other side of the carpeted floor. I wondered if ecstasy had anything to do with him falling into the pool. Sometimes he would look as if he were drunk, even though he hadn’t touched any alcohol. I’ve always suspected those 2 were snorting behind my back. But after a while, I doubted it. Neither of us had access to any sort of drugs except those that were on retail.
“Yeah. I’m just not lucky enough, I guess.” I replied cynically, stretching my sore legs to make sure they were still in working condition.
“You had better get that hand tended to, I don’t want blood all over my room.”
I glanced at my hand and found, to my horror, my wrist drenched in blood. I couldn’t recall what happened but the wounds on it didn’t look good. The carpet was stained with blood and the blot was steadily expanding. I felt like puking, my body was weak, my hand was bloody, my head was throbbing and my legs were aching. I definitely wasn’t in a good shape.
“What happened?”
“Nothing much, you just ripped off 2 lift signs off their chains with your bare hands, banged head first into the lift door, smashed my bicycle into a rubbish bin and finally tried drowning yourself when you cycled into the swimming pool,” Josh chuckled, “and you had better get it out of the pool before the guard sees it.”
“I guess I must have drank too much. Anyway, what happened to him?”
“No idea, I think he fell into the pool while running around. Crazy idiot. Anyway, I realised the both of you were half-dead in the pool after I pissed into it and I had to drag the both of you out. At least you were still conscious and we were able to get back to my apartment. I hope he’s still alive; getting charged with manslaughtering him with my urine, your blood and chlorinated water wouldn’t look too impressive on the front page of newspapers. ” Nonchalant was Josh’s rejoinder.
“Don’t worry. He isn’t that lucky either,” I grinned. I suddenly remembered I had tried opening a bottle of vodka with my bare hands earlier that night, which now, in my opinion, was one of the stupidest things anyone could ever do. I had cut my fingers deeply while attempting that feat of stupidity.
“I ain’t.”
His head never turned and I followed his eyes to the television. There was a soccer match being played; France against Greece. The digital clock face beamed 4.15 am. Over at the corner, my friend’s lifeless body stirred. He was still alive. Thank goodness.
