The Passenger- Part 3

When Deloris’ eyes opened she shrank back from the morning light shining through her car windshield. Her hands went up to her face, blocking the invasive sun. As Deloris grew used to the light she realized she was sitting in the passenger side seat of her car, which was parked in the driveway of her home. Her head was pounding.

“Hangover.” She said aloud, holding her head in her hands with regret.

Deloris opened her car door and stepped out onto the pavement. She walked to the front door, fumbling through her purse furiously for her keys. As she approached the door she looked up slightly, realizing it was opened, keys still dangling from the lock. She stepped cautiously through the threshold of her home, scanning the living room thoroughly for evidence of an intruder. Nothing seemed out of place. She stood in her living room for a moment wondering how drunk she would have needed to be to come home, unlock her front door, only to return to her car to sleep for the night.

Deloris made her way to the bathroom in desperate search of pain killers. As she entered the room she noticed all the cabinets were open, their contents pulled out and strewn around the counters and floor. Someone had been here. They seemed to have been looking for the first aid kit. The kit lye open on the toilet lid, a peroxide bottle spilled over on the floor, the gauze was opened and unraveled. She turned to investigate further and noticed a large bloody handprint on the edge of the sink. Not just large, HUGE! Impossibly huge. Her eyes followed a trail behind the bathroom door where a bloody blanket sat wadded up in the corner. She recognized the blanket as the one she’d had in the trunk of her car.

“What the hell?” Deloris gasped in confusion and horror.

What could she have done? Did she kill someone in a drunken stupor? Did she hide a body? Panic overcame her and she ran from the room, closing the door hard behind her. She ran upstairs to her bedroom. Breathing erratically and crying, she lied down on the bed struggling to get a hold of herself. She tried desperately to piece together the night before.

Deloris had left work early, she remembered that much. She was heading home to change her clothes before meeting some friends from work at a bar near her house. Then…

“What then?” Deloris asked herself out loud. Could she really have gotten so wasted that she’d deleted any memory of making it home? Some sort of retro-blackout? Deloris was not a heavy drinker, so this seemed unlikely.

“Someone must have roofied me!” Deloris exclaimed in horror. But where did the blood come from? What had happened to her? Before she could speculate further a high pitched ringing began in her ears. The room went black as she fell into her pillows.