The Drug
A Sly Cooper Short Story
By: Nicki Fowl
Inspired by: The Drug by Egypt Central
'I can't take it any more.
'It's…it's just too much…
'I can't keep lying to her…
'But I can't tell her the truth…
'I have only one thing for me…
'It hurts, but this is better than the alternative…'
Sly stuck the needle in his arm and pushed the plunger. The fluid slowly drained into his arm, and a shiver passed through his body before he calmed down, the cold sweat he woken up in now gone, the shivers banished once again.
He quietly walked outside and disposed of the syringe, making sure it wouldn't be found.
'I need to stop.
'I have to stop.
'But I can't stop.
'Or I'll break her heart.'
Bentley: You'll break it if you keep doing what you're doing.
'Go away! Leave me alone!'
Murray: This isn't you, buddy.
'I don't know you!'
Penelope: You need to get help Sly
'I can't hear you!'
Carmelita: Sly…
'Carm…'
Carmelita: Please, just stop Sly. This isn't you, you're stronger than this.
'I…I…you're right. I will. Tomorrow.'
He quietly worked his way into the house, doing his best to let Carmelita sleep.
He slipped into bed without disturbing her and quietly went to sleep. He'd been like this ever since the day after he'd faked his amnesia. And although he wanted to stop, he knew he couldn't without someone to help him. But if he did, he was afraid he might ruin everything he'd given up his old life to gain.
He felt trapped, as trapped as when he'd been caught in the hand of that monstrosity Dr. M had tried to feed him to. He was afraid. He felt like he was dying from the inside out.
His mind swirled with all the thoughts about this. Every day since he'd started this new life, all his guilt and fears had multiplied.
That first day he'd started with the drugs.
He'd been doing it every day since.
He tried his best to get back to sleep, to relax, but the effects of the drugs were keeping him up and it was pointless to fight with it, so he just lay back and breath, eyes closed and mind working tirelessly. He took a single moment, just one, to worry about his supply before he realized just how much he was stuck on this addiction.
His hand was already brushing the pistol he kept hidden in his nightstand, and the moment he realized this he began to realize just how deep he was in.
'What have I gotten myself into?'
He felt like sighing as loudly as he could, but settled for a quiet one instead, not wanting to disturb his partner. Slowly, he got out of bed again and made his way to the bathroom, pistol in hand, and defeat all over him.
He sat down on the lid of the toilet and cocked his pistol. Slowly, he began to stick it into his mouth, feeling the cold metal brush his tongue and nearly gagging on it, his finger poised on the trigger. He wanted to pull the trigger. He wanted to bring this to an end. He wanted it to stop. The hurt, the fear, the pain, all of it he wanted to go away forever.
The only thing that stopped him was the reflection from the mirror he had installed opposite the toilet, to the confusion of Carmelita. All that stopped him was his own reflection, looking at it, seeing Carmelita's shocked and teary reaction at finding his body, her picking up the pistol, writing down one last note before taking this same spot, shoving it under her chin, and-
He took his finger off the trigger and let the gun sag. His tail barely moved, and his bent back looked as if he was taking the place of Atlas to hold up the world.
He went back to bed, hiding the pistol once again. He finally was able to fall asleep.
All part of the routine.
Though not everyone was sleeping.
Carmelita lay on her side, doing her best to fake sleep, almost letting loose the breath she'd been holding as Sly slid into bed next to her, and finally letting it out once she heard him start to sleep again. In truth she'd known about it all, it only took a little digging and one meeting with Bentley with her suspicions to figure out the truth.
At first she was furious, upset, and for some reason touched, and was about to confront him in the bedroom when he came home from a meeting with their boss when she found his stash, and more importantly his gun.
Now she felt as trapped as Sly did. She wanted to confront him, but she was afraid of what she would loose, and the very fact Sly had fallen to using drugs to cope had shocked her silent. She had no idea what to do, and every night she was afraid that she'd hear the bang of the gun and finding his bloody body on the bathroom floor, of loosing him forever because of what had happened between them.
Once Sly was asleep, she slid out of bed and decided to sit a bit on the back porch that hung out over the streets, thanks to the hill. She put on her red robe and sat, looking at the full moon and thinking to herself. She took a needle out of her sleeve and the hand that held it shook as she held it, afraid as always of the pain. Then it was in her arm and with one motion in went the drugs and out went the needle, and she was calm again.
She'd started the same day she'd figured it out.
The first day together.
And she threw the needle out into the woods where it would never be found, the only evidence of her deed quickly eaten up by the trees and bushes.
She let herself shiver in the cool air for a second as the drugs entered her system, and then gave a sigh of relief. As she looked out over the trees into the sky, staring at the pale moon, she felt calm.
"You to?"
She jumped and saw that Sly was in the doorway, leaning up against the frame like he used to do, wearing a blue robe. Normally he'd look cool and proud, but instead he seemed to sag, like some of his life had been sucked out of him.
Carmelita just stood there as Sly sat down next to her and looked at the sky. He just sat there until Carmelita got enough sense to speak again.
"But…how did you know I knew?"
He just sighed, and he seemed to be breathing out his life force.
"I assume you mean my amnesia?"
She nodded.
"Honestly, I didn't. No clue whatsoever," then he smiled and it still had that special spark Carmelita melted from, "but I did know that some of my stash was going missing every night. Since I wasn't using it, only one other person could have been."
"You were asleep."
"Like you, I'm a good faker."
And his smile faded as he looked back to the sky. Carmelita simply sat next to him. And so they sat like that for a while, simply looking at the stars, thinking about how to start the conversation both of them had been trying to work up the courage for since they had started over three years ago.
Sly began.
"Carm…"
"Yes Sly?"
"I'm sorry."
"For what?"
He looked down, as if his answers were engraved in the concrete, "For lying for three straight years. For not telling you everything and making you worry sick all this time. For stooping to using drugs instead of coming clean."
"I'm as guilty as you are."
He laughed, "Please, I started this whole cycle. I'm the one to blame. If I'd told you straight, yes you'd be mad, but we would have gotten over it." He sighed, "I founded a whole relationship on a lie. How sad is that?"
"Not a whole relationship. I still love you."
That made him smile, "Well, at least I have you." Then his smile was gone, "Carm, I've been wanting to bring an end to this for years," and he produced his pistol from the robe, "now what's say we put an end to all of this pain once and for all?"
She looked him in the eyes, and knew exactly what he was thinking. And she nodded, bringing out a gun of her own.
They looked each other in the eyes, guns at the ready, no regrets on their shoulders any longer, and smiles on their faces…
BANG!
"You can't shoot for anything."
Sly stepped aside as Carmelita handed him a syringe and aimed.
"PULL!"
He hefted it at the trees.
BANG!
"Good thing we have so much of this place all to ourselves, eh Carm?"
"You got that right, ringtail."
"Ringtail, god I haven't heard you call me that for so long."
"Well that was the last one."
"I guess there's only one last thing to take care of…"
Bentley was working in the lab, about to beat his project to a premature death when someone came in and handed him a letter.
He opened it as the horse left, and as he read, a smile lit up his face.
"Well FINALLY. Hey Penelope! Pack our bags!"
He dropped the letter.
It read:
You are cordially invited
To the union of
Carmelita Montoya Fox
And
Sylvester Jameson Cooper
In Barcelona Spain
On the 23rd of May.
And at the bottom of the picture was a familiar blue and white stylized raccoon face with a picture of two people showing off their rings.
FINITO