Nikki in Pain

“Man come check this shit out!”

“What’s that?”

“That twirling bitch done fell down the stairs!”

“Nah, you lying!”

“Come look!”

“Dayum!”

“You better tell one of her girls to come get her ass.”

“Bet she don’t be sliding no more tonite!”

“I heard that.”

She heard it too and had to agree, no more dancing tonight. She was in pain. She had to get up and go home and get ready for work in the morning. What was that buzzing she heard? Some alarm had gone off in the club. Must be a fire or something. She had to move but couldn’t. Why hadn’t anyone helped her get up? Must get home and get to bed. No she was already home and in bed. How did she get here? That’s right Brenda had driven her home. If she was home, why was that buzzing noise still going? She decided to open her eyes and look around. Alarm clock! It couldn’t be morning already! She had to call in and tell Ernie she wouldn’t be making it in to work today. How could she screw this up so fast? Was she always like this? Bad choices. She remembered one time when she had a chance for a management job with the State. They needed the position to be filled ASAP. However the interview was scheduled at the same time she was scheduled to take vacation. HR had said the job was hers, all she had to was show up for the interview. She could have easily rescheduled her vacation but there was some serious partying down in San Diego that she couldn’t miss. There would always be new opportunities she thought at the time. In hindsight it had been the wrong decision especially when the layoffs hit. Maybe there were only few opportunities that remained for her. She would survive alright, but what she really wanted was to thrive. She decided she was going to work today even if it killed her. The days of living like a dead woman were over. The first thing she had to do was get out of bed and see how much damage she had done to herself. Something wasn’t right with her ribcage, and her neck was stiff and very limited in its range of motion. Even though she had the wits to tuck herself into a ball when she took her tumble down the stairs, it didn’t prevent the bruised knee and slightly twisted ankle. The walk to the bathroom took an eternity and it hurt to breathe when she exerted herself. The view in the mirror was unsettling, puffiness around her right eye and a small cut on her lip. She managed to get some clothes on and while she went to heavy on the makeup, it did make her presentable if you didn’t look too closely. She had decided not to take any Advil. She wanted to suffer. Let the pain be a reminder. She walked out her front door and remembered she didn’t have a car.