Addiction
Friendship only.
Tom didn't like to drink. His first taste of alcohol was snuck from a whiskey bottle he found shoved down the side of the sofa in the campervan. He was 14 at the time, it burned his throat and made his stomach curl but he liked it. McNair didn't, when he found out the next day. All the bottles of whiskey from then on was carefully locked away.
Not that it stopped him. The next time was on his sixteenth birthday it was on a full moon so McNair left him with a chicken and a dozen stakes and a slightly squashed cupcake. There was a couple of hours left before the full moon, he had to still drag the chicken about but he wasn't feeling good. He wanted a real birthday party with presents! Not a cupcake from the reduced isle in Asda and a box of sharpened sticks. He saw the liquor cabinet, he grabbed a knife and jimmed the lock. He grabbed a bottle of whiskey and relocked it. He went for the chicken and ran into the woods. He opened the bottle and sipped it. The burn was the same but it helped. He slowly got more and more drunk. The moon was rising and he dropped the bottle as the pain kicked it. The transformation seemed less painful as he lost conciousness but the agongy was more than usual, combined with the hangover it was almost enough to make him black out. If he could bring up a strong thought he would have sworn off alcohol but he didn't until 4 hours later when he consumed enough painkillers to sedate it.
The ban only lasted till he was 20. His father died. Instead of jimmying the lock, he just smashed the lock and drank 2 large bottles before passing out. To him it was perfect, he had a dream which in the dream McNair came to him and told him that it would be alright and he was proud of him and loved him. The hangover was again murder but somehow he got through it.
His 21st birthday had him drinking again but the full moon, that was soon meant he burnt off the alcohol in a couple hours in the cell. It cleared his mind and he figured it out that Kirby was behind it all.
So one night when he couldn't sleep, he wandered downstairs and collasped on the sofa, he reached for the remote and turned on the TV. There was nothing on, so he just channel flicked until Annie popped downstairs. "What are you doing up so late?"
"I jus' couldn't sleep. I'll keep it down." Tom replied and notched the volume down to a low hum.
"When my grandmother couldn't sleep she used to drink a shot of whiskey to help her. In fact I remember seeing a bottle of it behind the bar." Annie smiled and popped back to her own room.
Tom got up and found the bottle stashed under the bar and carefully poured out a shot. He put the bottle back and took his drink to the couch. He sipped it and before he knew it he fell alseep.
Worth continuing?
