kind of a spin- off of The Hole, like an alternative path for it. whatever
It hits Dougie, as he's staring down with blurry eyes into a blood-spattered toilet bowl, that he's actually in danger of dying. Like, right now. He could drop dead at any second, his last minutes spent with his fingers down his throat. He has well and truly pushed his little boat out to sea, the oars left on the dock, and the storm is on the horizon.
He panics.
Tom jumps as his bedroom door slams open. His neck snaps around and for a second he wishes it hadn't because this is something he doesn't want to have to be looking at. Dougie. Dougie, pale and red- eyed. Dougie, pale, red- eyed and covered in vomit and blood.
"What?" he chokes out, frozen to the desk chair he's sitting on.
Dougie stares at him out of unfocused eyes, breathes in air, and chokes out a sob. His body starts shaking, his tiny little fifteen-year old frame heaving and hitching, and Tom stands up, dizzy with confusion. "What?" he says again.
"Tom," Dougie sobs, "Tom, I think I'm going to die."
"Tom swallows, opens his mouth, closes it, shakes his head. Again, "What?", because his brain hasn't caught up yet.
"I cant breathe," Dougie whispers, and then his eyes go wide and he clutches his chest. "I cant breathe, Tom, I cant fucking breathe-" he breaks down in fresh tears, sinking to the floor. "I killed myself, I didn't mean to, I wasn't being serious, I don't want to die-"
Tom's brain finally makes an appearance and he lurches forward. One hand on Dougie's chin, one on his arm, face bent to stare into Dougie's grief-stricken face.
"What the fuck's happened? What did you do?"
Dougie doesn't answer, just throws himself into Tom's chest, body trembling. Tom wraps his arms around him- hard enough to hold him together, gentle enough not to break him, when did he get so fucking skinny- and then he yells, at the top of his lungs, "Harry! Call an ambulance, now!"
Harry's reply is lost as Dougie lets out the most God-awful sound Tom has ever heard, a mix between a scream and a moan. Amidst his panic, Tom finds calm, and he picks Dougie up and strides downstairs, jaw set. Harry is standing in the hallway, phone in his hand, face unsure and then horrified as he catches sight of Dougie.
"Ambulance!" Tom barks as he passes. Harry does as he's told, and Danny's jaw drops as Tom bangs into the living room with the sobbing Dougie in his arms. Danny starts to say something but Tom silences him with a glare, sets Dougie on the sofa and forces the blonde to look at him.
"Calm down. Dougie- Dougie, listen to me, calm the fuck down, what did you do?"
The hysterics stop as suddenly as they started. Dougie stares at Tom and says, in a deadpan voice, 'I didn't eat and then I puked blood."
Tom blinks. Is he supposed to understand that? He doesn't. But then Harry opens the door, the ambulance is on it's way, what the Hell is going on? and Dougie passes out.