Seduced by Lies by Stacey Quinn Page B

hung over misery, but the drumming in her head was quickly becoming more and more fervent and insistent, until she was sure she could actually feel bruises forming on the delicate mass of her thinking organ. She threw herself speedily and furiously out of bed, going from horizontal to standing in less than a second. She swayed slightly on her feet as the room swayed with her, and she stumbled on bambi weak legs out of her room and across the hall into the bathroom, keeping both hands firmly on the walls either side of her as she went.
                  The bathroom was a hundred times worse than her bedroom. Pure, unfiltered sunlight poured in through the curtain-less, dappled window, and was reflected back at every possible angle as it bounced off the gleaming white tiles, concentrating it into a thousand beams of bright white pain. Sienna rested against the wash basin, her arms trembling as they reached towards the bathroom cabinet. Her fingers blindly fumbled over the contents of the shelves, pushing aside boxes of tampons and tubes of creams until they came across the small, bumpy, plastic packaging of a strip of paracetamol. She hurriedly popped four of the little pills into her eager mouth, washing them down with glugs of water that she scooped from the tap in her bare hands. Even after the tablets had all been washed down her throat, her body still cried and begged for more hydration, and so Sienna shoved her entire head under the running tap and filled herself with the relieving, refreshing liquid until her belly ached and sloshed with it.
                  Her mission complete, she made her way back to the comfortable, dark safety of her bedroom and waited for the pain killers to take effect.
    It took half an hour for the drummers in her head to slow and eventually cease their erratic solo, and for Sienna to be able to open her eyes without being agonizingly assaulted. Though once she’d caught sight of herself in the mirror, her cheeks entirely blackened with resilient streaks of yesterdays eyeliner and mascara, she’d wished she’d kept her eyes closed. It was clear what kind of day this was already turning out to be, and Sienna simply did not have the energy or will to fight it. She scrubbed and cleaned her face as best she could, going through at least five face wipes and still looking slightly like a soot covered chimney sweep, before re-applying it all for the day ahead.
                  Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a tattered corner of her precious, secret shoe box poking out from beneath her bed.
    “Oh sod it.” She mumbled to herself - this day hadn’t got the better of her quite yet. She scooped her dear friend from under her bed once more, glancing quickly towards her bedroom door in slight paranoia, even though she knew her mother would still be asleep for hours. Once she’d assured herself that the coast was clear, she flipped the flimsy cardboard lid eagerly, only to be confronted with the disappointing sight of a mostly empty baggie. She cursed herself for smoking last night - she always over-filled her joints when she was drunk and ended up using more than she should. She lifted the clear plastic sheath up to eye level, shaking it slightly to separate the sticky buds, and calculated that she had about three reefers left - enough for today, but what about after that?
                  She shook the unpleasant thought from her head, not wanting to further trouble her delicate, hung-over mind any further.
    “Live for the moment.” She whispered longingly, repeating it over and over in her head, in the deep, sexy, wise voice that had once whispered it to her, in what now felt like a previous life. She knew he was out there, somewhere, maybe even waiting and longing for her as much as she did for him. And so of course she would always listen to that voice, would always do what it advised and strive to make it proud, as hard as it was to be