The alpha's last chance

Barbara woke up with a throbbing head. Even before opening her eyes, she knew the morning light coming through the windows would be painfully bright. Shreds of memories of last night came flashing back, and although she'd rather not remember too much, she didn't really care too much either. It's not like she hadn't been there before. And she always took care to not go out too close to her usual environment. For the simple reason that she didn't want to take the chance to encounter someone she knew while she was in one of her episodes. Sighing deeply she opened her eyes slightly. As expected, the light streamed in pounding the back of her eyes. Grunting, she rolled over, pulled the pillow over her head and decided to take another nap. It wasn't like anyone was expecting her to be there anyway. Since a long time, there was nobody. A few years ago, she was part of a beautiful family. It gave her purpose, love and a reason to get up in the morning. But these days, there was nobody left. Left being the operative word. After a bit more time, her bladder started protesting against the unusual long sleep in, and there was really no other acceptable option than to get up and face the day. Reluctantly she got up. Her room was a mess, but then again, so was she. It didn't matter. She staggered a bit on her way to the bathroom, if you could call it that. But it did the trick. She didn't need much more. While making her way to the kitchen for a cup of much needed coffee, she contemplated about the day ahead. With a glance on the clock, she realised with a bit of relief that this particular day wouldn't last that long anyway. Apparently, she slept away half of the day. After preparing a bit of a breakfast which consisted of a lump of bread, a piece of cheese and a large mug of steaming hot coffee, she sat down in the sofa, which also acted as kitchen chair and occasional bed . After last night, even the small task of making breakfast and walking to the sofa, which wasn't that far considering the size of her little home, exhausted her. And she sat down with a sigh of relief. It was only when she grabbed her big mug of coffee, that she noticed the strange mark on her wrist. Staring at her wrist, it looked as if she was held tight by a very large hand. She prudently tried to put her own fingers over the mark, but even though she didn't have small hands, her fingers couldn't fit over the marks at all, not even by far. And to be honest, they were rather painful to the touch. What the f##k is this then? She thought to herself. What went on last night anyway? Checking the rest of her body, she discovered another bruise on her upper arm and one on her thigh. It was almost as if she got into some sort of a fight yesterday, but for the love of everything dear, she couldn't remember what it was. After breakfast, she went to brush her teeth and maybe even have an honest go at brushing her hair. When she looked in the mirror however, she knew very well that there was no use in trying to save her looks today. She knew she wasn't bad looking., she wasn't a sheer beauty as well, but she was a good average. With relatively long dark hair and bright eyes, she could feel a good amount of approving looks from the male population when she walked by. Just not today. Today she was a mess. With a grin to her image, she decided that she'd spend the rest of the day in. There was still a fair amount of food in the house and she didn't really need to go out there for anything useful. Maybe a good movie would help her not to remember why she decided to go out in the first place. A good 10 minutes into the movie she picked, some fantasy romantic bullsh#t that couldn't grab her attention anyway, she noticed that her eyes kept wondering off to the marks on her wrist. What the hell happened last night? As she remembered, she didn't have that much to drink at all. And usually she could hold her liquor quite well. Tracing over her steps, she remembered picking out a place that was relatively far from anyone she knew. She dressed up in a nice outfit, not too sexy, not too basic and got into a cab. The cabby was nice, not talking to her too much which she preferred, and dropping her off neatly. She remembered going in to the bar, ordering herself a drink and talking to a stranger who approached her. Thinking about it, he was rather cute, tall and muscular. She also remembered his friends or whoever joining the conversation. After that, things got a bit blurry. Could she really have passed out after one drink? That would be a first. She chuckled. But how the hell did she get home? In a sudden rush of worry, she walked back to her bedroom and started picking up her clothes from last night. She realised her top was missing. Where the hell was her top and what the f##k happened last night, she asked herself in a light state of panic.