29: Hangover Haze

ASHER’S POV

A groan escaped my lips, its sound muffled by the soft pillow beneath my head. The room was bathed in a golden glow, the sun’s rays piercing through the gaps in the curtains, casting a warm, dotted pattern across my face.

“What time is it?" I murmured to myself, realizing the sun was already high up in the sky. I should have been up and running by now not cooked up in bed.

As I attempted to rise, a sharp, piercing pain shot through my skull like a lightning bolt, instantly forcing me back onto the bed with a startling thud.

“Ow!” I cried out, my hands flying instinctively to my temples. My fingers pressed into the skin, trying to soothe the throbbing ache that pulsed beneath.

“What in the world happened last night?” I muttered to myself, the confusion evident in my voice.

I sat there, lost in a fog of confusion, trying to piece together the fragments of the previous night. My last clear memory was of myself, hunched over my broken study desk with a glass in hand. But now,