“Jace!” My father’s voice comes in a bellow that wakes me up from the light sleep I’d finally fallen into after one whole night of tossing and turning in my bed. I shoot out of the bed at the sheer volume of the proclamation and immediately get reminded why such an idea could be considered really bad for a man with my predicament.

I moan as I hold my pounding head in between my arms, feeling a thousand hammers pummeling me from the inside of my skull, and close my eyes tightly because the brightness burns my corneas.

My mouth is drier than the Sahara Desert, and I smell like a dumpster truck full of week-old cat food. I feel like all kinds of shit I could even think of, which is not a pleasant image, at all.

As I hold my head and try to get ahold of myself, I get reminded of why I’m in this position in the first place. And just as quickly, all the feelings I’d subconsciously tried to keep at bay returned, and there was nothing I want to do than succumb back into the blanket nest I’d f