Chapter 44. Moving On

She woke up in the morning two days later, after drifting in and out of sleep, with a splitting headache and rolled over to her side. The sun was bright in the room she once shared with Mabel. On the nightstand was an open bottle of whiskey. She had poured herself a glass the other night when Mabel finally left – she had cried until her throat was sore so Mabel had stayed in the room with her - but left it untouched before nodding off. Even now as she looked at it her belly churned. Since when did whiskey make her sick?

Outside Ermernia was waking up for another day in the field but she wasn’t ready to get out of bed yet, she wanted to wallow in misery a second longer, maybe a day or two, give or take, and she would be great to face the sunshine again.

She rolled on her back again and closed her eyes. The smell of the whiskey was really getting to her. Just then the door opened and Mabel peeped in.

“Hey.”

Rachel cracked an eye open.

“How do you feel?”