How I became Bankrupt

Chapter 10: Flashing lights

An irritating ray of light had been stubbornly drilling a hole in Eren's closed eye for several minutes when he finally gave in and opened his eyelids. His gaze fell on the faded, white ceiling, which definitely did not belong to any of the rooms in his family home, uncle Hannes' house or the dorm room he rented during his studies.

Where the hell was he?

He pushed off the yellowed blanket and rose to a sitting position. His feet landed on worn, dark panels, which had no doubt been run over by some piece of furniture more than once.

A volcano erupted in his head. Nausea attacked him with such speed that Eren didn't even have time to register that he was already running towards the sink standing next to the bed.

He didn't even consider what the damn sink was doing in someone's bedroom, too busy throwing up all the alcohol he drank last night and more.

I guess it's over, he thought with relief as he leaned over the sink, resting his arms wide on either side of the pottery, when another wave of nausea didn't come after waiting three minutes.

Then the headache started.

At that moment, when he fell clumsily to the floor, clutching his throbbing forehead with a hiss, a fleeting thought flashed through his mind that he probably preferred vomiting after all.

•••

Twenty minutes and five cups of lukewarm water later, Eren decided he was better.

He was lying flat on the bed, trying to focus on his breathing, when the question from several dozen minutes ago came back to him like a boomerang.

Where was he exactly?

Last night didn't tell him anything. Somewhere between his fourth shot of cherry vodka and his conversation with Levi Ackerman about types of milk, his memory became an unreadable black hole.

A second...with Levi Ackerman?!

Did he - no, it's impossible that Ackerman put something in his drink. Sure, Eren wasn't convinced of his complete innocence after their meeting at the banquet, but poisoning Grisha Jaeger's son, THAT Grisha Jaeger, was beyond his audacity, right?

Right?

He calmed his breathing.
All right. Everything pointed to the fact that he was simply fucked up.

As if just to bring him back to reality, his phone let out the sound of an incoming notification.

Arching his spine and arm, he reached down to his pants, which hid the device in his back pocket.

The screen lit up after pressing the side button and Eren's eyes showed countless notifications. At the very top he saw thirteen messages from Mikasa and twenty missed calls, right below her was his mother and then Armin and Jean who had ten missed calls each.

And about fifteen of Eren's other friends.

As soon as the messages loaded on the main page, he confusedly clicked on the chat with his sister, scrolling to the beginning of the conversation.

From: Mikasa
"Eren, where the hell are you?"
"Eren."
"Eren, answer."
"We worry."
"Are you safe and sound?"
"Eren, please..."
"If you don't want to talk to me, at least answer Hannes, or Armin and Jean."
"We're on our way, wait for us."

The last message sent just now surprised Eren the most.

He had to be in a motel above a pub, obviously. He only managed to understand it when he looked out the window and connected the dots. However, the brain numbed by a hangover did not help.