The Reunion...
Part 1
Carrie sat alone at the singles' table, clutching her forehead in her palms. Her headache had continually worsened all day, in spite of the two doses of aspirin she'd taken so far. When she'd awoken it was only a dull annoyance, and she figured it was stress induced. She was back in her hometown for her fifteen-year high school reunion. She didn't want to be there. Who even throws a fifteen-year reunion? But she had promised Deidre she would go for the both of them. Deidre was her best friend back in high school. They'd lost touch after graduation, but recently, thanks to the social networking craze, they had become close again. Deidre couldn't attend the reunion herself due to family obligations, so she had convinced Carrie to go and dig up the dirt on some of their "less favorite" old classmates. "It'll be fun!" she exclaimed. "You might even reconnect with someone who's still single and realize it was always meant to be. And..." she teased, "don't forget Devin is going to be there."
Devin was Deidre's brother, older than them by two years. Carrie had been madly in love with him back when they were teenagers. Deidre knew about it and teased her relentlessly. Devin knew about it, too, but was much kinder and made sure never to embarrass her. Which, of course, made her like him even more. He was a big shot doctor now, and part of the volunteer medical staff for the event. Carrie thought it was funny that there was a medical team. Did the reunion organizers expect a lot of drunken dancing injuries?
"There you are." Carrie turned to see Devin approaching her from behind. "What are you doing sitting here all by yourself?" He beamed at her, arms outstretched, as she laughed and stood to meet his embrace.
"Oh my goodness," she said as they hugged tightly. "How are you?"
"I'm great," he replied. "What about you? Seriously, why aren't you out there mingling?"
"Oh, you know, I was never really close to any of these people. I only came because your sister made me." Devin chuckled. Reaching up to rub her temple, she added, "Plus, I think the music is giving me a bit of a headache." She wasn't about to tell this guy whom she had lusted after in high school, who now happened to be a doctor, that she had in fact been fighting this headache all day long, and that it was now so bad she could hardly see straight.
"Well, can I get you anything?" he asked. "A glass of water maybe?"
"Sure, that would be great." She smiled at him.
As he turned and walked toward the bar, Carrie quickly took her seat again as she felt a sudden wave of dizziness. The room began to spin as she covered her eyes with her hands and tried to take deep breaths. She uncovered her eyes again. It wasn't working. Her vision slowly faded to black...
