James, meet floor

The phone was ringing. James cracked open his sleep crusted eyes and surveyed his surroundings. Problem one was his being on the floor. More specifically, on the floor in the livingroom, mouth open, drooling into the brown carpet. Problem two was that the phone hanging on the wall of the kitchen was ringing. Problem three was that it was one in the morning and his mouth tasted like scotch puke and carpet.

Candace was comatose in the hospital, Alice wasn't in Denver anymore and had never called the house when she was still here. The thought made him want another drink. Maybe not scotch this time, though. His stomach lurched again as the phone rang again and he dragged himself up to answer it.

"Who the fuck is calling me at this time of night?" Was what he wanted to say, but his professional nature kicked in instead. "Williams residence..." He slurred into the phone. He rubbed the crust out of his eyes while the person on the other end paused. He blinked himself a little more awake. There was someone on the other end he could hear them breathing softly. "Hello? ...Alice?" He hated the desperation in his voice, but he just couldn't take it anymore.

  "Hi." A man's voice. Not Alice. "Sorry to call so late, but is there a James there?"

"This is James... May I ask who you are?" His tone was harsh, but he really didn't care. It was late, he was drunk, and the phone number was long distance.

"I'm a friend of Alice's. My name's Ben. Now, I know you and her had some history, but I gotta make sure you're going to leave her alone now." He sounded reasonable enough, but James really wasn't feeling too reasonable at the moment. "And before you ask, she doesn't know I'm calling you." James was livid. He couldn't seem to make a sound.

"This is James Williams the architect, right?" Ben seemed a little less sure of himself, which finally deflated James' furious silence.

"Yeah. This is James. Alice's James, actually. What I'd like to know is, and I mean this with the utmost respect, but who the fuck are you? Why are you calling and where is Alice? She won't return my phone calls and no one knows where she is. I miss her... Will you tell her that? Whoever the fuck you are to her, can you tell her that much?"

Ben was silent on the other line for almost a minute. James openned his mouth to ask if he was still there. Ben beat him to it. "She doesn't know I called you... I'm sorry." Before James could yell at him, the line went dead.