
When Gwen awoke at last, she felt like the whole of Desierto had manifested itself in her mouth, save for the oases. Her parched tongue felt like a rock and her lips were uncomfortably dry. A hammer of a headache pounded in her temples, the pulsing pain pulling her towards consciousness one thump at a time.
Several minutes passed before she was fully released from slumber into the cruel reality of how shitty she felt. Rolling over with a groan, all Gwen could think about was getting a drink of water. Fighting the urge to lay back down, she stumbled to the bathroom on legs of gelatin. Turning the sink on full blast, she drank more water than she ever had in her life. At least, that’s what it felt like. Stopping to take a breath, she felt her stomach churn uncomfortably. She barely made it to the toilet before all the water came back up. A croak that was meant to be a groan escaped her lips.
After taking a more paced drink she returned to the bed, sat on the edge and put her head in her hands, resting her elbows on her knees. It felt like a train had hit her, then backed over her and hit her again.
“What the heck happened last night?” Gwen mumbled to herself, rubbing her eyes. All she remembered was heading into a bar with two guys, the burn of alcohol in her mouth, and the fierce golden eyes of another man she didn’t know. The rest of her memory from the night was blank. The feeling of losing that many hours of her memory disturbed Gwen greatly. She didn’t like this, not one bit.
A glance around the room led her to realize that this wasn’t the room she’d been staying in the past few days. Why wasn’t she in her hotel? Had she been so drunk she forgot about the other place and paid for a new room? No, that didn’t seem right. A piece of paper on the night stand caught her eye. She reached over to pick it up. Scribbled down were a phone number and address.
Gwen’s mind jumped to the worst conclusion first. Had she gotten so drunk she brought a guy with her to a hotel? Whipping her head around, she looked at the bed behind her. Only one side of the covers had been disturbed. She was still wearing her clothes from the day before too. With a sigh of relief, Gwen ruled out that possibility. It wasn’t like her to do something like that, but with how unknown the effects of alcohol were to her, there was no way of knowing if she would make different decisions while imbibed. She vowed not to ever get that drunk again.
All of a sudden she realized what time it was.
“Noon?! Already?” Gwen gasped, leaping up from the bed. She was supposed to be at the old lady’s house at 9! Frantically stuffing her possessions in her pockets, she took one last look at the note. Figuring out what had happened last night would have to wait, she had a job to do! She fled the room, checking out at the front desk before bolting out the door to find her way to the old lady’s house.
❂❂❂
Several hours later, Gwen sat at the old lady’s dining table, sipping on a cup of orange tea with honey. Her headache and the dryness in her mouth had subsided greatly after getting a bite to eat and working on replenishing her fluids. Luckily the old woman, Edna, had been very gracious and forgiving of her tardiness. Gwen had tried to explain what had happened, but Edna hushed her, insisting that the young woman eat something now and they could talk about it after the work was done. They had finished organizing the house and now sat together, talking over tea.
“So you think someone took me to the inn and just left me there?” Gwen asked, glancing at the crumpled note she had placed on the table. The idea wasn’t unbelievable, but she was confused about how things had gotten to that point.
“Yes, dearie,” Edna said with a nod, taking a sip of her own tea.
“Those two men couldn’t have been up to any good inviting you to the bar that way. Someone else probably took you away from the situation to make sure you were safe. Something like that happened to my niece once,” she said matter-of-factly.
“Hmm. I just don’t get how the guys could have been bad,” Gwen mused, her brow furrowed in thought. A slight pout sat on her lips. She’d encountered bad people before, but these two had seemed friendly. She hadn’t noticed any signs of malicious intent. Was she really that bad of a judge of character? The notion upset her.
“You have to be on guard more, dear. There are people out there who seem nice but want to hurt you.”“I guess so…” Gwen thought for a moment, then her eyes lit up.
“Hey, Edna, could I use your kitchen? I want to make something for the person who helped me before I go to this address.” She picked up the note, waving it for a second before returning it to her pocket.
“Of course,” Edna said with a warm smile.
❂❂❂
After departing from Edna’s house with a hug and a promise to provide any future help the old lady needed, Gwen made her way towards the address on the note. The place turned out to be a beautiful little cabin in River Village, just a little trip by train to the northwest of Ace of Spades. The river ran lazily through the town, the shores dotted with fishermen. When she got to it, the cabin itself looked cozy and well-kept.
Taking the old woman’s words to heart, she was cautious as she approached the door. Gwen had always been a pretty fast runner, so she was on her toes and ready to leave if she had to. Straightening out her clothes and hair so she didn’t look as much of a mess as she felt, the young woman hesitantly knocked on the door. In her hands was a plate stacked high with snickerdoodle cookies that she had baked at Edna’s house, a gift of thanks for whoever would open the door.