Short passage...

Nervous Wreck

Here ya go...

He awoke the following morning, still drunk, to find that he was alone in the house. A sip of water from a sun-warmed glass tasted like foam in his dried mouth. Half-dressed and half-awake, he stumbled from his room, realising now that the alcohol that gave him courage the night before and a headache this morning was still coursing through his veins. The night's events flooded back and he laughed and cried to himself, and screamed above the sound of his own voice, and yet no great sound escaped his mouth. Discouraged and motivated, happy and sad, he stumbled onward with new news that his childhood best friend was now a murderous scumbag, in hospital with knife-wounds less severe than the corpse he left on a street that same night. He shrugged at the information, and went about his day.

elleA

It seems like every sentence has a few too many words in it.
I think you were trying to portray this lead character with contrasting emotions all at once, but to me, it just reads as a bunch of contradictions.
-- > "Discouraged and motivated, happy and sad"

I think it has potential though. Obviously the last two lines open up a storyline which could potentially be raw, human and hard-hitting. It's not the type of story that would appeal much to me but I definitely think there is an audience for it. Good luck!

Matt Holck

people are complex

Intothesea

Interesting opening ideas I think! Line rhythms (3-5 in particular)
are a little too long and even. This slackens reading pace, making
it that bit harder to be absorbed by the text. Varying line-length
on a non-regular basis will help 'trap' your readers. Straightforwardly
expressed dichotomies don't tend to ring true -- I have the same
issue as elleA here with 'Discouraged and motivated, happy and
sad'. Actions and flashes of thought can be portrayed directly
while complex inner states would need more subtle language, no?

Anyway, sin mo 0.02, I'd definitely read on. G'luck with the rest