Joseph stirred, groaning at the pain simply moving caused him. As was becoming habit, he'd fallen asleep on his side with an arm flung out across the space where Eve should have been, but this time he'd somehow gotten his other arm twisted behind him. His shoulder was killing him and the limb was dead asleep.
Rolling over onto his back, Joseph winced at the discomfort in his shoulder, as well as a variety of other aches and pains that had nothing to do with his arm and everything to do with the fact that he hadn't been able to hold down a meal in nearly twenty four hours. It was the worst part of the poison working through his system, meaning he'd spent most of the night in a place he only should have been if he'd actually had some fun: worshipping at the altar of Tidy Bowl. He barely remembered the night before, only lots of retching.
Grabbing his cell phone off the nightstand, Joseph got shakily to his feet and ambled into the bathroom, biting back a wistful wish that Eve were here to yell at him for getting nailed on the job. Annoying little brat had him missing her...and he had a feeling she might miss him. It kind of felt good.
Shuffling into the bathroom, Joseph leaned against the sink and checked his phone...he had a few voicemails. Checking his missed calls, he saw Eve's number among them and felt one corner of his mouth tug upwards...talk about ironic. Pushing the button for his speakerphone, Joseph dialed his mailbox and entered his password, setting his phone on the counter and letting his messages play as he stared at his reflection...which didn't look too good.
"JT! It's Mayac...how you doin'?"Joseph recognized the voice of his distant cousin, Mayac Lenny Keller. The Kellers lived locally...a human branch of the Ducain family tree that ran a successful chain of hardware stores across Massachusetts. They followed the demonic traditions of the family as best they could, but were middle class, wholesome, and always welcomed Joseph like a lost son even though he saw them maybe once a year. Mayac was a troublemaking cousin that wanted to get into the life, and never stingy about keeping Joseph in the loop.
"So I just got back from New York...Grandpappy sends his love. Grampa still wants you dead.""Not fuckin' surprised." Joseph grumbled to himself, cringing a little at his reflection. His face was ashen, with the exception of the ruptured blood vessels rimming his eyes and stretching out towards his temples, a side effect of all the puking. They seemed to make his bloodshot eyes seem even worse than they were, and Joseph could already tell he'd lost a visible amount of weight over the last few days.
"Anyway, just called to tell you Mamma wants you to come over sometime for dinner. Maybe bring that gal pal of yers...tell Ma she's your girlfriend, that'll keep her off yer back. We miss you over here, man. So...yeah, 'ats it. Call me at the shop. Later."Joseph hit the pound button to save the message, then listened to the next one as he turned on the tap to splash water on his face, then clutch the sink when a wave of vertigo caused him to sway...he needed more sleep. And some fucking food.
"Joseph, it's Professor Harmon. I just wanted to call and let you know you had nothing to worry about...I just finished grading last week's essays and yours was one of the best I read. I know you're worried about your grade, Mr. Turner, but you're well within the 'A' grade bracket. Perfectionism is laudable, but don't stress yourself out, okay? Kyle will swing by your place with this week's assignment. Hope you're over the flu soon, and I'll see you for the exam on Wednesday."Okay, that was enough to make him feel loads better. Reaching up to wipe his dripping face with a towel, he hit the 'save' key and waited for Eve's message to come up.
""Hey, it's me. I'm in Boston now, actually landed a few hours ago. Stopped by the office, and now I'm having lunch with Wes. I've got a flight to New York that leaves around eight. I have a meeting Friday afternoon and then I'll be staying the night in the city. Trust me, all the flying? Not exactly thrilling me at the moment. My stuff is due to arrive at the house on Sunday though. With that in mind I'm flying back Saturday, which is earlier than I planned, but I really don't need to be on the road much longer than this. Actually I'm doing favors at this point, but I figure it's all going to work out in the end. I miss you, and I'll give you a call tonight when I get into New York."Fuck.
Freezing at the mention of her early return date, Joseph slowly let the towel slide away from his face just enough to let him see his own reflection in the mirror. Okay, so the blood rash around his eyes would be mostly cleared up by then...and he *did* feel better today, this was the first morning he hadn't started off with his head in the toilet. And maybe she wouldn't even notice he'd been sick...or try to bug him about it if she did notice.
After a moment, Joseph nodded to himself, letting the towel fall away with a ragged sigh. "Yep...you, motherfucker, are royally screwed.
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