An unusual wake up.

A short story by Jason Kovtun. 

Anna opened her eyes. She wasn't sure what woke her up and as she laid there she realized she didn't know where she was. She'd been drinking the night before, that she could tell by the mild hangover and, she wasn't alone, that was obvious as her head was laying on a muscular chest that rose and fell in the rhythm of a solid sleep.

She was comfortable and didn't feel threatened at the moment which perplexed her because she didn't have a clue where she was, how she got her or who she was in bed with; but he had a nice chest, and abs. 

A droning sound caught her attention, familiar. Tilting her head, she saw that she wasn't the only one using this chest as a pillow. A silver striped tabby cat was currently curled up in the crook of the guy's other arm. Its head resting on the man's chest, eyes half open regarding Anna lazily and purring happily. 

Anna smiled, 'if he likes cats, he can't really be all bad' she thought to herself. Anna herself had four cats, but if she didn't make it home in time to feed the little ones breakfast her roommates would do it. 

But the purring wasn't the sound she was hearing. It wasn't coming from him. The man's heart beat powerfully in the chest below her, soothing and in some ways intoxicating to listen to. She could understand why she fell asleep listening to it.

Sitting up slow so she didn't wake him she looked around. The room was dark with a large window above the bed that did little to illuminate the room despite the fact that there were no blinds or curtains. All she could see from her angle were stars. The window was unusually high on the wall, the bottom of it seemed to be about four feet from the floor and it curved back some, going into the ceiling like a skylight that arced down

The droning was coming from all sides and she couldn't place it. Something tugged on her memories but when she reached for it, it was gone. The experience nagged at her. Why couldn't she remember where she was? Did he drug her? The hangover was light, almost nothing. 

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

Looking down Anna could see that she was topless but wore panties, HE, was wearing boxers too. She reached down and touched herself, she wasn't sore. If she had sex last night she would have been. That fact cast doubt on the idea that he may have drugged her.

She let her eyes wander over him. His face was handsome and he had an amazing body. The cat was looking up at her so she gave it a scratch and found she had to crawl to get out of the bed, it was that big. She searched the floor around the bed and found a shirt. She put it on, realized it was his and shrugged. It fell almost to her knees and smelled like him.

What now? She could make out three door frames. Did she take door a, b or c? She opened the second door to find a closet. But it was even darker in there and she couldn't see much. The smell of shoe leather was her biggest clue of the contents. Next she tried door a. It was a bathroom. A large one too. A window over the large two person jacuzzi tub cast enough light to see the room.

Progress, door c let out into the living room. She tiptoed through the door and looked around. There was an attached kitchen and dining nook with only one other door in the room, the exit presumably. on the coffee table in front of the long couch was a wine bottle and two glasses. Anna stared at it and remembered sitting there, laughing in conversation, drinking the wine.

Looking around, Anna studied the room. No trace of a woman's touch in the furniture choice or layout. 'Definitely a bachelor.' Then she noticed there was no TV. The couch faced the long bank of windows that matched the design of the bedroom and bathroom. She made her way to the window watching the starfield expand as she got closer. 

Once she was right next to the window she expected to see that she was on the top floor of some penthouse, or at the edge of a dark forest, anything except what she saw. Out the window, the starfield expanded in every direction as far as the eye could see. And there, just below the levelbof the window, was Earth.

Realization dawned on her and memories flooded back. He built this starship himself. Wanted to crew it, to find a new Earth, a new home for humanity. Wanted to escape the politics and religions and corporations that were constantly destroying progress and humanity's well-being. 

He had approached her to be the ship's moral officer and while they had clicked, flirting with one another almost instantly, she didn't believe him about the ship. So he made a bet with her, if he could prove it to her that she would agree to join the crew and agree to share a bottle of wine.

So he flew her up into space and they finished off the wine. She remembered that she had been willing the previous night, eager even. But he had turned her down. They had kissed and even gotten a bit furthur but he didn't want to do anything while they were drunk. Didn't want her to have any regrets.

The cat sat calmly in the doorway to the bedroom and watched her. As she stared down at the blue and white pearl that was the Earth. Anna knew; her future, and the future for many people, would be amazing.