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Thursday, October 10, 2013

Not Feeling Yourself?


When you come to, you’re in a strange apartment in one of those neighborhoods that first your mother, then your friends warn you not to get lost in, and you do not know the name of the person next to you, much less the way home. You remember there was a pizza party at Katie’s and you wonder if the apartment got trashed. You lift your hands, inspect your fingers and are inexplicably relieved to find no blood on them. Not home free yet, you scan the unfamiliar room for signs of clothing. Almost every item is black, so the blood, were there any, would be hard to see. Before you get up, you make sure the person next to you appears to be equally free of bloodstains.
Getting up turns out to be a less appealing proposition than you had first thought. You are expecting your head to feel like a pothole, but are unprepared for the lack of motor response. More than asleep, your arms feel incapacitated. There are no pins and needles. The opposite of phantom limb syndrome, you feel nothing where your arms need to be. Your legs are fairing no better, so your brain, though hugely malfunctioning, is your only hope. You concentrate.
You don’t remember beer, you stayed away from the colas and tonics; you must have gone with vodka and something sweet. The backs of your eyelids attest to the kamikaze verdict. Your stomach is in disaccord, certain that you had rum. Many rums. As your eyes roll back in your numbing head, your mouth falls open and a thick line of drool begin to spill out. Your collarbone feels damp and cool, as if the skin were peeling right off. You feel hungry, and your teeth begin to snap, but you cannot think of a single meal that appeals to you, that might assuage the sudden howling in your bowels. Just before you pass out again it comes to you. One drink, many versions: zombie.



22 comments:

  1. I love the 2nd person POV here, so, so good! Though the end might be read as a metaphor for a dreadful hangover, I am going to think of it as not a metaphor because it's just so delicious that way. Wonderful as always! And creepy. And sad.

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    1. I love that you are so able to make this your own, Jennifer!
      Thank you for the lovely compliments. I'm glad you enjoyed it!

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  2. Inexplicably relieved to find no blood on them.. great, great line. Best description of a hangover (no matter what kind) since Tom Wolfe's, Bonfire of the Vanities.I love the 2nd person, too. Delicious writing!

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    1. I see you know that feeling - wondering what you did to deserve to remain alive...
      Thanks so much, Steph! You are such an encouraging, and perceptive, and generous reader. I feel honored.
      btw It's been a very long time since I've experienced that kind of hangover, but the memory is as clear as this very minute!

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  3. Kymm, Your description was so spot on I actually felt the room spin as I read this;) Now that is great writing!

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    1. Oh god I hate when that happens. So sorry!
      Hahaha. Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks, Valerie!

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  4. Ugh. This makes me feel like never drinking again. I've felt that post-zombie feeling before, and you have described it perfectly. Thanks for linking up.

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    1. Hahaha. Why do you think I only ever drink wine anymore?! And sometimes too much of that.
      Thanks for the visit, Tri!

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  5. If that's what peeps feel like after drinking, I'm glad I don't indulge.

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  6. This is beautiful, Kymm.

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  7. That is wizardry with words.

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    1. And that is an enchanting compliment!
      Thank you, Aesop!

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  8. I think we can all (sort of) relate to this. Though I've never woken up and not known where I was!

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    1. In all honesty, Mel, I don't know if I have or I haven't. I've no interest in remembering it now!
      Glad you could relate, though. Thank you!!

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  9. Oh, this makes me sick to my stomach. Not because it's bad--quite the opposite. It's so spot-on it's giving me flashbacks of some pretty awful mornings after. Somebody pass me some crackers.

    I really wasn't expecting that ending. Nice, creepy build-up.

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    1. So sorry for that ill feeling. I also hate those flashbacks.

      Glad you enjoyed it, Ivy, thanks!

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  10. When we received this prompt, I looked up how to make a zombie. One of those surely would reduce me to one of the living dead.

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    1. Yes, I think that is the actual idea behind this particular drink. Cut to the chase, as it were.
      Thanks for stopping by, Tara!

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  11. Great graphic writing. Excellent imagery. Head "like a pothole" - love it. (RogRites)

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    1. Pothole felt a bit clunky at first, but in the end I think it fits right in.
      Thanks so much, Rog!

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