Drink Responsibly

A cool night breeze blew over Cress's flushed red cheeks and she let out a heavy sigh of relief. It was late; later than she normally stayed out but she had pushed off drinking with her friends so long they'd dragged her from her condo even as she kicked and screamed in protest.

It wasn't that Cress hated going out. On the contrary, she enjoyed being around her friends and loved drinking with them even more. That particular night she'd already drunk enough cocktails to finish off six bottles of lychee soju on her own. No, it wasn't going out in and of itself that was the problem: it was the demons that came with it.

For twenty-two years, Cress had been cursed with a debilitating case of arachnophobia. As a young child, even seeing an errant strand of webbing was enough to give her a panic attack. It was so bad that her parents were forced to home school her while taking her to therapy sessions three times a week. Medication became necessary for her to venture outdoors and even then a spider sighting was enough for Cress to find herself in the hospital from panic attacks.

"I'm glad those days are behind me," Cress thought, leaning against the worn-out red brick of the bar, her eyes lazily scanning her surroundings. "If Mom had given up on me for even a second I'd probably still be hiding in my room, wasting away with no one to talk to besides Mom and Ian until I died."

"It's a good thing it's getting cold. I won't have to worry about any of those bastards popping out at me and the exterminator just treated the condo last week. Mom will lecture me about drinking with my meds, but it's nice to be able to go out with Vi and Kirian without having to worry."

Slapping her cheeks and taking a deep breath of the night air to sober herself, Cress clenched her fists in front of her in determination. Even if she had to hide away the rest of the year, she was going to make the best of her spider-free winter.

"I should get back…" Cress's words trailed off and she covered her mouth with her hand as a nauseating spinning sensation took her over. She leaned back onto the brick wall and slid down into a crouch, hoping lowering her center of gravity would alleviate the feeling, but to no avail —a moment later the sidewalk in front of her was covered in a puddle of soju cocktails and grilled meat.

"Fuuuck," she groaned, reaching into her brown and white rabbit purse for a tissue. She wiped her mouth and crumpled it in her hand before realizing she had nowhere to toss it. "I didn't want to go home yet, but—" Another wave of nausea overtook Cress and the puddle in front of her grew. She didn't have a choice anymore; she had to flee the scene of the crime.

"Home is just a few blocks away… Seems like a waste of money to call for a ride. I guess I should at least tell Vi and Kirian I'm leaving so they don't get worried, but they were having such a good time. Whatever. I'll make it if I walk slow and I can text them when I get home."

Nodding to reassure herself, Cress wiped her mouth once more and started home. Thankfully, the area was well lit and the late night streets were deserted due to the cold. Even if she did run into someone with ill-intent, she had pepper spray in her purse.

"Ugh, I hate this. I should have listened to Vi when she said to drink more water. God as my witness, I'll never ignore her advice again!" Cress raised her balled up hands into the air as she made her proclamation and, to her surprise, a soft meow responded.

"Kitty? Kitty!" Cress's feet moved quicker than her spinning mind and a moment later she was chasing behind a black and white cat with fluffy fur and puffed cheeks. "Come back! I won't hurt you!"

Cress knew she was being stupid. There was no way the cat would come to her if she was chasing it, but at that point, she was moving more by feral instinct than will. Nothing sounded better than nuzzling into a pillow of soft fur, though in reality the fur was probably matted and flea-ridden. She hadn't even realized she had followed the cat into an alley until she lost sight of it.

"Where'd you go, kitty," she whined, looking around her for the cat. The alley came to a dead end and the ebony feline hadn't run out past her. The alley was empty aside from a couple heavy duty plastic trash cans against the wall at the alley entrance, so there was no place for the cat to hide either.

"Fine, be that way," Cress said with an exhausted huff. She tried to catch her breath as she straightened her mousy brown hair. Normally she wore it in braids or pigtails, but she hadn't had time to do it up before her friends and kidnapped her for drinks and barbecue.

"Oh, God, I'm going to be sick again." Cress dropped to her knees, trying to control her breathing and settle her stomach. She hated throwing up and she'd already done it twice that night. She closed her eyes, she tried to think of something, anything, else.

"I forgot to feed William earlier."

William the Bird, Protector of the Realm, was Cress's third pet parakeet. Her other two had been commandeered by her mother when she moved away from home for school, so now she was on her third. Though her cousin, Ian made fun of her, she was proud of her play-0n-words, and she had granted William the title of Protector after he'd eaten a spider that had ambushed her in her kitchen one night.

"I need to remember to before I pass out tonight. It's not fair that I'm feasting till I vomit and he's at home starving. I'm such a terrible mother!"

Tears welled in Cress's eyes, her drunken, emotions overwhelming her. She quickly pushed up her gold frame glasses and wiped them away with the sleeve of her cardigan, sniffling. She pulled another tissue from her purse, but as she did, her phone clattered onto the pavement.

"Dammit! I hope I didn't crack the screen again. Mom will kill me if I need to… what's this?"

Cress's brows furrowed as she picked up the strange gold coin half nestled under her phone. At a glance it looked like an old arcade token, but when she examined it under the light of her phone, she could tell it was more valuable than that. The coin itself was flawless, which was odd for a coin that looked to be real gold (or at least plated with it) discarded on the ground. Judging by the blooming lily on the coin, it could have been a special edition print, except the image was on both sides and looked hand engraved rather than pressed.

"I wonder if it's worth anything. It has to be fake, though. There's no way someone wouldn't notice a collector's coin missing. It might even be sentimental." After a brief internal debate and a hazy imagined scenario of a small boy crying at home because he lost the coin his deceased grandfather had left him, she decided to set it back down. This would be her good deed for the day.

Gently setting the coin back where she found it and nodding in self approval, Cress turned to leave the alley when a sudden gust of wind surrounded her. Her hair whipped in the air above her and she held her pleated skirt down by instinct. Then, there was only darkness.

"What the hell was that?! And why is it so damn dark suddenly?" She cursed quietly to herself and tamed her messy hair a bit before turning on the flashlight of her phone. To her surprise, instead of brick she was surrounded by rough light-brown sandstone.