Wednesday's Words on a Friday

 almost didn't happen, the words had me totally bamboozled, not even a glimmer of an idea of what to write, but it came together in the end.

The original Words for Wednesday was begun by Delores and eventually taken over by a moveable feast of participants when Delores had computer troubles. Sadly, Delores has now closed her blog forever due to other problems.

The aim of the words is to encourage us to write. A story, a poem, whatever comes to mind.

If you are posting an entry on your own blog, please let us know so we can come along to read it and add a few encouraging words.

This month the words/prompts are supplied by Alex J. Cavanaugh and can be found here

This week's words/prompts are: 

1. cobwebs 2. tiger 3. Japan 4. black 5. cobblestones 6. hurt 

and /or: 

1. Atlantis 2. pyromania 3. guacamole 4. energetic 5. slither 6. slice

Also including Charlotte's colour of the month: mint green

Here is my story: 

I struggled to sit up, trying in vain to clear the cobwebs from my brain. Still sleepy I made my way to the kitchen feeling as if I balanced on cobblestones the whole length of the passage. “Weird,” I thought, “I know we have thick soft carpet here.” The cobblestones feeling remained as I walked into the too bright kitchen. I looked down to my feet and discovered I was still wearing yesterday’s mint green high heeled shoes. “No wonder my feet hurt,” I thought as I felt around with half closed eyes to find the dimmer switch. Off would be better, a totally black kitchen might help the pounding in my head, but I needed to see to get the kettle boiling and make a cup of coffee.

I thought back to the day before, why could I not remember it? I had walked in to the Office Christmas party, someone had shoved a drink into my hand and everything after that was a blank. My hand shook as I spooned instant coffee into a large mug and when the spoon clattered against the stoneware a tiger roared inside my head adding to the pounding which was still there. I had a vague memory of the visiting Japanese officials, perhaps I had tried some of their Sake as well as whatever else I had consumed.

I opened the fridge to get the milk and the sight and smell of the week-old bowl of guacamole had my stomach slithering into my throat. I dashed to the sink and threw up violently, my entire body feeling as if it was made of water, I was so weak-kneed. I  kicked off the shoes and ran the tap at full strength to clear the mess and wondered if I had eaten anything at all at the party or did I just drink the bar dry all evening? My drinking had taken control of me, and with my ex getting custody of the kids because of it, I had been imbibing even more than usual. It’s a wonder I hadn’t lost my job as well as my family.

The kettle boiled and I made the coffee, the first slurp went down hard and hot, so I blew on it a bit before I dared a second swallow. Perhaps a slice of dry toast would help? I shuddered at the thought and decided I’d leave eating until later when I was more awake. I glanced at the clock and was horrified to see it was already after noon. I had to sober up! Jason was bringing Nathan and Rebecca to visit. They had both got excellent report cards from school and wanted to show me. Nathan, the junior pyromaniac, had even given up playing with matches, Jason had proudly told me, and Rebecca was currently obsessed with the lost city of Atlantis. I swallowed a couple of aspirins and went to have a shower. The least I could do was look good for the kids. Getting energetic was going to be impossible, but perhaps they would consent to quiet chatter instead of rowdy games.