An unfinished story.
“Ugh!” a voice groaned, from somewhere to Trixie’s right.
“My thoughts, exactly,” another voice answered in low tones, that nonetheless sent throbs of pain through her head.
Trixie tried to pull the covers over her head, but found that she did not have any covers. A few moments of further reflection brought her to the realisation that she was lying on the floor of a room, on carpet she did not recognise. She also appeared to be wearing an unfamiliar shirt over… nothing whatsoever. She tugged the hem of the large garment down a little further, before opening her eyes a crack. The light stabbed with unbearable brightness, so she closed them once more.
“Does anyone remember what it is that we did last night?” The second voice turned out to belong to Honey.
“No. Should I?” This voice belonged to the person who had groaned. Trixie realised this was Diana. “I’m not even sure where we are.”
“I kind of thought, if we knew what we’d done, we might be able to figure out where we are. I mean, I think we were supposed to be staying in my parents’ apartment, but this definitely isn’t it, and I don’t think it’s the same building, but I’m not really sure, not having been into all of the other apartments before, but I think it’s probably a slightly older building. Doesn’t that ceiling look older than my parents’ ceiling to you?”
With supreme effort, Trixie forced her eyes open and looked around. At first, she could not keep them open long enough to focus on anything or gather any clues, but after a while her eyes began to adjust to the light and stopped watering. She could make out enough to know that they were in someone’s bedroom, though whoever that might be appeared to have left little around that would give a clue to their personality. Both of her friends were actually on the bed.
“How about you, Trix? What do you remember?” Di asked, apparently noticing that she was now awake.
Trixie frowned. “Uh, I think we were going to go to Lucci’s for pizza and then to – I forget the name of the place – to help someone forget something, but I’m not sure what it was we were supposed to forget; I’ve forgotten.” She paused a moment. “I don’t think I’ve ever been here before, but I’d guess it’s a guy’s place. It has a kind of male look to it.”
“Mmm,” Di answered, vaguely agreeing. “So, what do we do now?”
“I really need a glass of water,” Honey put in. “And a bathroom. And a painkiller, or three.”
“Well, let’s try that door,” Trixie suggested, rolling onto hands and knees. She waited for the room to stop spinning, then pushed up onto her feet. A few dizzy steps later, she was there. The door opened into a small living area, devoid of any other people. The next door she tried belonged to the bathroom and Trixie hurried to make use of it, having just discovered how urgent that need was.
After washing her hands and splashing water on her face, she returned to her friends and helped Honey to her feet. Soon, all three were feeling more prepared to face the day, but to Trixie’s dismay she found that she was the only one in someone else’s clothes. Di’s slinky black dress looked just as good as it had the night before, but Honey appeared distinctly rumpled and one of the side-seams of her blouse had split.
“I don’t think you have anything to complain about,” Di answered, when Trixie voiced this concern. “You must be a lot more comfortable than I am.”
“Yes, but there’s nothing under here,” Trixie argued. “Nothing. Where did my clothes go? They’re not here.”
“Maybe we should try the door to the hallway,” Honey suggested. “At least we might find out where we are.”
Di crossed over to it and peeked out. She shrugged and let the others have a look. “I don’t think I know this building. It’s definitely not your parents’. Should I go downstairs and try to find out where we are?”
Trixie shook her head. “What would happen if you couldn’t get back in?”
Honey got them glasses of water in the kitchenette and they sat together at the breakfast bar to think through what to do next.
“I’m sure I’ve never been here before,” Di asserted. “And I have no idea where here is! I don’t know what we should do.”
Trixie scowled. “At least you could leave, if you wanted to. I still don’t know where my clothes are.”
“I have kind of an idea where your clothes might be,” Honey answered. “I’ve just found this photo on my phone.”
She held it out to the other two and both their jaws dropped.
“What were we doing?” Di demanded. “And what is that… that… thing!”
What did they do last night? What is that thing? And where are they now? Tell me, please, because I’d really like to know!
Author’s notes: This story-fragment is posted for the first part of CWE#20: Finishing Unfinished Trixie Business. The idea of the challenge is for people to post unfinished stories and then for different people to finish them off. I had a look through my vast supply of fragments and thought this one best fit the bill. Thank you to the CWE team for posting this challenge. I look forward to hopefully seeing a conclusion to this little piece!
Thank you, also, to Mary N./Dianafan, who very kindly edited it for me.
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