Lara's Hangover

Lara was lying on a hard surface, she was cold, her head was banging and she couldn't remember anything about the previous night. As Lara opened her eyes she saw herself in the middle of a messy dining room. The hard surface was a dining table. Lara scanned the walls hoping to see a picture in order to determine whose house this might be. But all she saw was a couple of small paintings on a red and yellow striped wall. As Lara crawled off the table her feet touched soft carpet, as she looked down it was beige colored stained with what was presumably alcohol. The floor was littered with empty beer cans and liquor bottles. Lara stumbled out of the dining room and into a corridor.

There was a man sleeping man on the floor. He looked to be in his 20s. He was dressed in jeans and a plain shirt. Lara nudged him. "Excuse me, could you tell me where I am?" Lara asked politely. The man groaned and didn't respond. She nudged him and repeated again but got the same response. She clearly wasn't going to get any answers from this guy. Lara continued down the rubbish filled corridor and found two doors. Lara walked into one which happened to be the bathroom. There was one woman passed out on the toilet and another passed out in the bath. Lara sighed then walked toward the mirror.

She was wearing one of her expensive night dresses, although it was stained. At least the dress was black though. Lara was even more puzzled by this. She had clearly attended someone's house party last night, but whose part was it, and why did she go? Lara wasn't the sort for these kinds of parties, and she had never seen this place before in her life. Lara attempted talking to the women who had passed out. "Excuse me could you please tell me where I am?" Lara asked the one in the bath. No response. Lara grunted beginning to get angry. "Hello?" Lara asked the one on the toilet. "What?" The woman asked moodily. She had an American accent. "Hi I'm a little confused here. I don't know where I am and I have no memory of the night before." Lara explained. "Look lady, I have a terrible headache and I'm really not in the mood for these questions. Please go away." The woman said rudely. Lara tutted and left the bathroom.

She then took the other door which led into a living room and kitchen area. There were over a dozen people passed out in this room. They were spread everywhere from the couch to the kitchen floor. Lara walked into the kitchen; she opened the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water. She was so thirsty she downed it in 10 seconds. She looked out the kitchen window and saw she was in an apartment block. Lara tried thinking about last night but it just made her head hurt more. She didn't bother talking to anyone else as it was clearly futile. She leaned on the breakfast bar and sighed. Lara was staring at the ground when something caught her eye. Lara saw her handbag on the floor.

As Lara slowly approached the bag, she saw the strap was stuck under some guy. Lara sighed again as she tried pulling her bag but to no avail. Lara grabbed a half empty bottle of beer and poured a few drops onto the man, he rolled over slightly freeing Lara's bag. Lara opened her bag to see her wallet and her phone. She tried turning on her phone but the battery was dead. Lara didn't care and walked straight back into the corridor. She had to get out of this place, it was making her nauseas. Lara noticed another set of doors down the corridor. Two of them must've been bedrooms while the third was clearly an exit judging by the peephole. Lara exited the apartment into a communal corridor; she headed straight for the lift.

As Lara entered the lift she realized she had no shoes on. "Great, just bloody great." Lara said clearly annoyed about the situation. The lift stopped a couple of floors below and a man walked in. He was dressed in jogging attire. He eyed Lara up and down making her feel awkward. "Only just waking up are we?" The man asked. "I'm sorry?" Lara asked confused as her head was loudly banging. "I'm not surprised, that party went on for hours. Had it not been the weekend I would've came over and complained. Anyway have a nice day." The man said as he jogged out the lift.

Lara slowly stumbled through the lobby still trying to make sense of what had happened the previous night. All she knew was she was at a house party that ended late. As Lara walked outside the heat hit her hard. It must have been 80 degrees. Lara stumbled through the town looking for a payphone to call Zip. Lara accidently walked into a little girl. "Hey watch it lady." The girl exclaimed. "Sorry. Excuse me little girl, but could you tell me where I am." Lara asked the girl. "You're in Downtown." The girl said, "Downtown?" Lara asked confused. "Downtown, Phoenix." The girl said agitated, she mumbled something under her breath and walked off.

"What the hell am I doing in Phoenix?" Lara asked out loud. Lara limped slowly looking for a payphone. As Lara found a payphone she dialed Zip's number hoping he could shed some light on the situation. "Hi who is this?" Zip asked. "Zip its Lara." Lara said. "Lara what the hell happened last night?" Zip asked. "I was hoping you could tell me." Lara said confused. "You were only supposed to go in take it and get out, but I lost your signal and you didn't contact me." Zip said. "Look Zip I have no memory of last night, I woke up today on a dining table in a pigsty, so could you please tell me what the hell is going on?" Lara asked slightly impatient. "Really Lara? Okay well you found a map to the tomb of a Chinese emperor, but you only had half. The other half was in this guy's apartment in Phoenix Arizona. The guy just happened to be throwing a party so the plan was to sneak in, steal the map then leave unnoticed." Zip explained.

Lara then remembered about the map, but she still couldn't remember this man in Arizona or his party. But that did explain why Lara was at a rave. "Uh hello, Lara?" Zip asked over the phone. "Sorry Zip just lost in thought." Lara explained. "Did you get the map or not?" Zip asked. "No Zip, I must've drunk too much beer last night trying to blend in." Lara replied. "Oh great, nice work Lara." Zip said sarcastically."You do know you have to go back to his apartment right?" Zip said. "Right I'm going back, hopefully everyone's still passed out."Lara said. "You may want to hurry Lara. It's already 12:30 so people will probably start doing the walk of shame soon." Zip advised her. "What! How can it be 12:30? Look Zip I need to go but I'll ring you once I get the map." Lara said hanging up the phone before giving him a chance to reply.

Lara walked back to the apartment block as fast as she could. As Lara reached the door to the apartment she heard loud banging. As Lara entered she heard a man speaking. "Alright everyone it's time for you to go. Look I know last night was fun and some of us drunk a little more than we should have, but it's almost 1pm and we all have lives we need to get back to." The man said. He must of been the owner. But now Lara was screwed, everyone was heading home so there was no way Lara could find the map. Everyone groaned as they got up and headed for the door.

Lara was stuck. "Come on Timmy you gotta leave too." The owner said to one of his friends. "But Kyle I can't find my phone, Jess'll kill me if I don't find it." Timmy said. "Fine I'll give you five minutes to find it, then you have to leave. Cristals coming back from her work trip today and I need this place spotless." Kyle explained. As everyone else was leaving, Kyle approached Lara. "Hey hot stuff how's your head?" Kyle asked her. "Achy and spinning." Lara replied bluntly. "I'm not surprised after all the beer you drank. But look sugar, my roommates coming back tonight and I have a lot of work to do, so unless you wanna grab a mop, I suggest you get going." Kyle said.

Lara needed that map, but how was she going to convince Kyle to let her search his apartment. "Timmy times up, you got your phone?" Kyle asked Timmy. "Yep, great party by the way." Timmy said cheerily as he left. Lara then got an idea. "Kyle, I've lost my mother's necklace. Please can I look for it?" Lara asked politely. Kyle sighed "I have a lot of cleaning to do, but if you stay out of my way then fine. But please don't be here for more than an hour, I get distracted with a chick as hot as you around." Kyle said as he grabbed a trash bag and started picking up the garbage.

Lara walked into the corridor. She didn't want Kyle watching her as she knows she'll look suspicious. She remembered Zip saying that the map was put in a frame and hung on the wall. Lara scanned the corridor walls but there was just a bunch of mindless art pieces. She reentered the dining room hoping she had missed something, but none of the frames contained the map. It must've been in a room Lara hadn't checked. She went into what was presumably Kyle's bedroom but found no luck there either. There was another door but it was locked.

Lara reentered the living room and saw Kyle with a full trash bag. "Any luck?" He asked. "Not yet, but I'm sure it's around here somewhere." Lara said trying to buy herself some more time. "Someone might've stolen it, what did it look like?" Kyle asked. "Uh, its rusted bronze, has several scratches on it, and has a pendant with the letters MP on it." Lara said lying. "Well I can't see anyone wanting to steal that, Maybe it fell under the couch." Kyle suggested. "One of the doors is locked, it might be in there." Lara said hoping to gain access to that room. "Not likely, that's Cristal's room so no way would anyone have gone in there last night." Kyle replied. "Oh, I'll check under the couch." Lara lied again.

Lara crouched down next to the sofa while scanning the living room walls. She then noticed the map was hidden between two bookshelves. Lara slowly stood up and Kyle was not in the room. She picked up the frame but it was way too bulky to hide in her bag. Lara tried opening the frame but it was glued shut. The only way to get the map was to smash the frame, but that would make a loud noise and attract Kyle's attention. She heard Kyle's footsteps and quickly ducked under the couch. "Hey, I'm going to vacuum so you may wanna cover your ears. But I'll vacuum in the dining room first." Kyle said.

Once Kyle turned on the vacuum Lara carefully smashed the frame. Lara then took out the map, folded it then put it into her bag. Lara then decided to say goodbye to Kyle, it would be odd if she just randomly left. As Lara was walking toward the corridor Kyle came into the living room. "Sorry but I need to vacuum in here now." Kyle said. "It's ok, I found it anyway." Lara said. "Oh, ok well here's my number, and have a good one. Also I didn't catch your name." Kyle said handing Lara a piece of paper. Lara came out with the first name to come in her mind. "Angelina, have a nice day." Lara said taking the paper. She felt bad that she just played this guy like a fool. But it's not like he was going to use the map.

Lara walked back to the payphone and called Zip. "I got it Zip." Lara said. "Awesome. Now if you could go to the nearest internet café and send me a scan I'll be able to find that tomb in no time." Zip said. "Will do, also would you mind telling me what hotel I'm staying at, alcohol really does kill your brain cells." Lara said. Zip chuckled "The Sheraton Lara, room 513." Zip reminded her.

-Fin