That Which is Unexpected

  Chapter 2: What a way to start the day

  I’m startled awake by my phone, the ringtone coincidentally being ‘Pinch Me’.

  That’s right…

  Jason is dead.

  I should have realized that was a dream long before now. I sit up and swing my legs over the side of my bed. I wake my phone from sleep mode to see that it is 11:15pm on Wednesday, May 1st. I have a new message and a missed call, both from Sara. I reach for the highlighter orange bottle on my nightstand, tap out a little blue pill that I have taken for ADD since I was a kid, and pop it into my mouth because I know that I won’t be getting back to sleep. I know it is just a psychophysiological response based on the color, but I swear it tastes like blueberries. I grab the bottle of vodka off of my night stand and take a swig to wash down the pill.

  I reach for my phone to call Sara back and it starts ringing the moment my fingers brush against the screen. That same damn ringtone… I’ll have to remember to change it later.

  “Hello?” I ask, already knowing that it’s Sara.

  The moment she starts talking I immediately become alert, mainly because she is crying so hard that she is hyperventilating so I can only make out every other syllable.

  “C..le? Un.. Eri.. is ..ed, ..le,” the strangled sounds coming from Sara make it hard to tell that it is even her.

  “Sara? I can’t tell what you’re saying. Slow down, breathe and then try again,” I tell her. I listen to her breathe deeply over the phone for a few seconds before she continues.

  “Cole, Uncle Eric is dead,” Cheza manages.

  The phone slips out of my hand and thumps onto the floor.

  Well, this day just keeps getting better.

  …