Chapter Twenty-Six Part One — Carson

I woke up with a steady thumping in my head. Like someone was going crazy with a drum kit plugged into an amplifier.

It took all the energy I could summon just to open my eyes, at this point I couldn't even imagine moving.

As I surveyed my surroundings I realized that I wasn't in my apartment, in fact I didn't recognize any of the decor. The deep aquamarine wallpaper with the matching curtains and the complimentary paintings on the wall were all totally strange to me.

I groaned as I tried to remember how and why I ended up in an unfamiliar bedroom, with only soft blue-green sheets covering my body.

Nothing came to me past the agonizing throbbing in my skull.

One thing was clear even with my limited thinking faculties: somewhere between yesterday and this morning I had made a terrible mistake. And even though the woman — God, how I hoped it was a woman because I