Hang up already! Please?
Much to my unconscious body's dismay, my eyes flutter open and the bright early morning sunlight that snuck in through a crack in my blinds pounces on their vulnerable retinas.
Wincing, I fumble with the ringing phone beside me.
"Hello?" I mutter, half asleep.
"Dana, it's Ashley."
Something's wrong. I can hear it in her voice. It sounds like she's been crying.
I suppose if I weren't half asleep I could have figured things out a little quicker.
"What's wrong?" I managed to say around a yawn.
"I'm at the hospital. Something's happened to me." I could hear her choking back a sob. "I need you to come here quickly."
"But, but..." I stammered, trying to force my exhausted brain to think faster than it could in its condition. "What's going on?"
"I'll tell you when you get here. Just... please?"
Was that panic I detected in unflappable Ashley's voice?
"Okay. I'll come. Please, just tell me what's going on."
"Thank you." Then she was gone. She hung up without even offering me a hint. It has to be serious. But what could it be?
I sat up and replaced the phone in its cradle. Rubbing sleep from my eyes I thought, 'What the hell is going on?'
chapter 11