inTOX!CAT!ON
x ♥ x
katraa
Jade hues slowly opened, allowing light to once more enter. Black pupils darted from the sterile white ceiling to the equally disturbing white of the walls around him. The repetitive beeping from his right made his earlier headache return with a vengeance. The beeping itself sped up, and slowed down in a short time, following the beats of his heart. Green eyes narrowed at the grey machine beside the white sheet bed he lay upon. A heart monitor, that was what the machine was. Numbers glowed on said machine, some in green, some in yellow, and others in other colors Riku did not wish to distinguish at this time. Upon his finger was a piece of cold metal. Green hues averted their befuddled gaze down upon the finger the metal was place upon. He figured that was where they were taking his pulse.
Riku laid flat back down on his bed once more. Eyes stared with much confusion upon at the colorless ceiling in an addled state. Why was he here? He should be hosting a party right now. Or later tonight. The question was, what time of the day was it? He had no windows in the room he was currently in, and therefore had no idea on what time it was. All he did know was that he had the party of the century to host, and he had to get home. He could not leave Sora alone with his so called 'friends'. They would totally murder the poor boy.
Growling to himself, Riku attempted to rise from his bed in an effort to leave the room. However, his effort was ceased once a blonde woman had entered, carrying a clipboard with her. Jade hues darted towards the woman, bearing the same confused expression as before. She had blue eyes, which instantly made him miss Sora's. Her's lacked in comparison to his friend's, and all he could do was scoff at the attempt.
"Riku Karada." She spoke in such an innocent voice that it just had to be fake. "I'm glad you're awake." And she really was not glad at all. They just told her to say that. "We would like to discuss your current," A pause, "situation." And just who were 'we'? All he saw was one inadequate woman who was failing at her job to appear friendly. She was fake, along with what seemed like everyone else in this messed up world.
"Situation?" Riku dared, lowering his gaze to his clipped finger to stare questioningly at it. Had he had a heart attack? Stroke? Gotten intoxicated and into a crash? No, he would never do something that stupid. Eyes returned to the blonde nurse, awaiting his deserved answer.
"Do you know why you are in here?" Her voice contained a sullen undertone that Riku picked up on at once. She was trying to appear friendly to conceal her own pain. And it was amazing how many people did that nowadays, and how easily you could pick up on it. Even on a complete stranger who is forced to play happy just so you keep your spirits up long enough to live.
"No." Riku answered emptily, giving a shrug. "Are you going to tell me? Or am I asking the wrong person?" Riku seethed, arching an eyebrow. He was tired of people pretending to be something they were not. And he was tired of not knowing why he had awaken here, and not in the comfort of his own bed.
The blonde haired woman seated herself at the edge of Riku's bed, resting the clipboard beside her. Vacuous eyes looked intently at him, as if concealing a macabre truth. "You were brought in here last night, midnight to be exact. Your butler found you passed out on the bathroom floor while he was leaving, suffering from a cardiac arrest due to overdosing." She stated it so bluntly with no remorse that it chilled Riku to the core.
At once the silver haired teen's heart stopped. The blood coursing through his veins turned to an icy liquid, making every single part of his body ache. The pain prickled all throughout, making him physically wince. He wanted the pain to go away. Perhaps it was all physiological, or actually there, but he did not care. He would not believe these corrupted lies some fake woman was telling him. Unlike most people, he enjoyed life, respected it, and surely would not try and kill himself. Especially by over-dosing.
"You're mistaken. I would never be that stupid to try and commit suicide." Riku answered darkly, "All I took was two, and that was because I had a headache. Which is why you take medicine to begin with." He spat at the woman, not amused whatsoever with her preposterous accusations against him.
"There was enough drugs in your system to give proof that you took twelve. At minimum." And now she was purposely being vague and unsupportive; showing her real colors. The blue hues he had compared to Sora's turned into their real appearance. They held no remorse, no pity, and definitely no help. All they showed was a brutal, hurt, and broken woman.
"I did not!" Riku snapped, articulating each word with much determination. Sighing with vexation, Riku rose a hand from his side to swipe strands of his hair out of his eyes. "Listen, you're wrong. All I did was take two, okay? There's no problem here, so I would love it if you would take this thing off me and let me go home. I have a party tonight." Riku informed acrimoniously.
"You aren't going anywhere for a couple of days. After that is counseling for several years. Over-dosing is a serious thing." By now she was glancing around with boredom. Verbally fighting had gotten old fast to this woman and now she just wanted to be done with the conversation. She was two-faced, one of the many Riku had encountered so far in his life.
"..." Riku sighed, giving up, even if it was just for now. "Does anyone know?" If anyone found out that he had been accused of over-dosing, he probably would lose his status in school, mostly all of his friends, and more importantly, Sora.
"Only your mother and father." The woman replied, arising from her seat on the bed. "Of course, word of mouth is quite fast." Eyebrows rose in that obvious ominous way.
Riku snarled at her quietly, watching her triumphantly leave the room. As she left, he murmur„red darkly under his breath, "bitch." He figured that once this was all over, his life would be ruined.
All because of a too many pills he had no memory of taken.
- - - - - -
"So you ... didn't try to kill yourself?"
Sora sat quietly on Riku's bed, looking over at Nisemono with interest. The brunette gave off the innocence of a small child waiting to be told a story. Blue hues that Riku had deemed worthy of praise stared nervously over at Nisemono, wondering if Riku really had tried to kill himself. It was quite the pity that Sora did not realize that this was not his friend he was speaking to, but someone who would in the near future thrust his life into turmoil and confusion. But for now, everything seemed all right.
"Why would I kill myself?" Nisemono inquired with a sinister tone that contained sarcasm and no penitence. His dark green eyes looked over at the brunette who was now sprawled out on Riku's bed, looking to the ceiling. The boy was cute, and Nisemono had to give Riku props for befriending such a cute virgin boy. Fingers laced in Nisemono's lap at the edge of the bed.
"I... it's just not everyday that you get rushed to the hospital for something like that. I'm sorry!" Sora answered quickly, cheeks turning pale in fear that his best friend was angry with him. A moment of silence passed throughout the pair before Sora dared to speak once more. "Your party. Are you still having it tonight?"
Nisemono arched an eyebrow at Sora. So Riku had planned a party, how fitting. In the back of his quite malign mind, he wondered if anyone would come if they heard Riku had been rushed to the hospital. Then again, not many people knew. He assumed just that annoying brown-haired girl, that red-head, and Sora knew. Dark green eyes returned to gazing at Sora as he nodded his head.
"Of course." Lips rose into a threatening smirk, unnoticeable to the naked eye.
"Riku..." Sora spoke slowly, letting his hands snag a pillow from the top of Riku's bed. The brunette took it in his arms and gave it a tight squeeze, letting his chin nuzzle the soft exterior with a murmur.
"Yes?" Nisemono yawned at the dull conversation, making his word quick and sharp. He was not one for contrition or cordiality, and therefore relied on snappy comebacks. Unlike Riku, he was quite querulous towards mostly everyone. Everyone including the brunette laying only feet from him.
"Were you scared?" Sora whispered, letting his eyelids fall over his blue eyes.
"Scared?" Unlike how Riku would answer, Nisemono made the question sound more like sarcasm, as if by asking that, Sora was making himself look stupid. Riku, on the other hand, would always fill his questions with curiosity and a slight good humor. This was nothing like that, and Sora blamed it on the incident.
"Scared that you were going to die," Sora mumbled back, feeling a bit odd speaking with Riku today. He seemed different, much more petulant. Afraid of being to verbose, Sora remained silent, eagerly anticipating a honest answer from his childhood friend.
"No."
Something deep down in Sora froze from the blunt and dark answer. Blue eyes slowly cracked open, glimpsing at Nisemono with much inquisitiveness. Small hands tightened their grasp on the pillow he held upon hearing the answer. Brown locks of hair fell delicately in Sora's face, obscuring his vision as he stared at his silver-haired friend. Sora said nothing more, and waited for Nisemono to say something instead.
"You ask too many questions." Nisemono declared viciously, arising to his feet and mutely made his way across the room. Once at the door, Nisemono pushed it open and left, barely signaling for the younger of the pair to follow.
Sora disdainfully followed his friend out of the room, carrying the pillow with him as he went. Nisemono led the two downstairs two flights, into the living room. "What time did I say the party was going to start again?" Nisemono inquired enthusiastically, making his way over to the stereo in the corner of the room.
Sora stood by the entrance to the room, worried that if he said something wrong the other would snap at him once more. "Like... five." Sora answered slowly, eying the clock that read four forty-five with much worry. "Usually you just put music on... and everyone does what they want," He tried to be helpful, but ended up sounding like he thought Nisemono did not know what he was doing.
"I know that." Nisemono snapped, earning a shudder from Sora.
It was not fair, and Sora knew it. The pain Sora suffered was immense when he had learned from Riku's mother that he was in the hospital. It bothered him even more that Riku's parents were on a business trip halfway across the country while their son was left at home in their 'mansion.' Sora knew he was the only one that was there for Riku, and was planning to visit him everyday at the hospital until he got better. And now Riku was back, but different. He was rude, angry, mean, and everything in between. It did not seem fair that Riku could put Sora through such torment and then come back and make shots at his current fragile heart. It hurt more than words could express.
"Right... I'm sorry." Sora mumbled, taking a seat in a chair farthest away from where Nisemono currently was. Music began to flood the room and the house as the silver haired male began to fiddle with the lights, dimming them slightly so they were not so intense. Sora watched half heartedly, wishing he could just go home and sleep his life away. But Riku was his best friend, bad mood or not.
The guests arrived like a mob scene, flooding the house. Bodies quickly began to rock back and forth on the floor, throwing themselves at one another, begging for more than just a dance. The clothes some of them wore disgusted Sora, and made him shyly hide in the corner of the main room. People by this point had already invaded the interior of Riku's house for heaven's knows what. Sora did not want to guess.
It had been twenty minutes since the actual party had started, and countless drunken teenagers were pushing their way through the mob of dancing bodies, trying to find someone or something to cling onto. Sora stood silently in his corner, wondering why he even came, wondering why he even stayed. Perhaps it was that tight choke-hold his friend held on his brittle heart that made him stay. A sigh of self-pity passed Sora's lips as he hugged his arms tightly to his chest, watching people with slight envy.
It was not until five minutes later when a pair of foreign arms had slid around his waist from behind. The brunette's cheeks at once flared a dark red, heart stopping. He could suddenly feel hot breath on his neck, making the hairs on his neck prickle. Sora's mouth felt uncomfortably dry all of a sudden as blue eyes blinked rapidly. Hands brought his body close to whoever was holding him as the hot breath continued. Sora gulped audibly before daringly glimpsing over his shoulder to be met with a familiar pair of green eyes.
"Riku... it's just you." Sora sighed, but somehow was even more frightened and embarrassed by the whole situation. A smirk was evident on the other's lips as he let his hands strum the sides of Sora's waist repeatedly. The blush grew shades darker when he realized how close he was to Riku. It was not his fault that he felt ... things for the boy. He always had. He knew better than anyone that he was slowly falling for his best friend who did not share the same feelings. Everyone knew that Kairi liked Riku, and he liked her back. There was no Sora in the mix, and he had to accept that. But this made his heart flutter.
"What are you doing standing alone in a corner, Sora?" Nisemono inquired, tauntingly letting his lips hover over the uncovered flesh of Sora's neck. The brunette gulped once more, feeling slightly uncomfortable and yet at peace with their current placement. Only in his dreams would Riku come so close, do such things. The blush grew at his own thoughts as he tried to wiggle free of his friend's grasps, only to be pulled tighter to Nisemono's chest.
"I-i just can't dance and figured if I was over here I wouldn't be in anyone's way." Sora stammered quickly, half staring at the dancing crowd and half watching his friend's hands slide around his waist, circling it a few times.
"That's no fun at all," The voice was etched with seduction and a hint of amusement, "Here," Upon saying the word, the silver haired teen had begun to rock his body forward, applying pressure with his hands onto Sora's waist to make the younger teen do the same.
"R-riku..." Sora murmured, body failing as he found himself incapable of forming any words other than his friend's name. Before he even knew what he was doing, he was letting his body move with the music against the other, lulling him into a high.
For just that moment, Sora felt like he actually was someone and not just the brunette boy everyone knew, just never talked to.
"Mmm.." Nisemono breathed heavily into Sora's ear, purposely bucking his hips forward the moment he felt Sora's body sway backwards. The simple motion earned a small gasp from Sora that was drowned by the music. "You can too dance." Nisemono informed, letting his hands trail along the lithe boy's body.
"Riku..." Sora tried once more, too caught up in the music to even care that his friend's hands were running up and down his chest and side, making him blush a fierce red. "R-r-iku seriously I..." He just could not stand this.
"I'm sorry!" Sora finally got out in between a struggled gasp. Sora broke free of Nisemono's grasp, wiggling out of his arms and leaving the warm comfort behind. And he ran as fast as he could towards the front door, and then out it. He could not handle his best friend like this. Especially when he knew that he did not mean it the way Sora wished he did.
- - - - -
Green eyes stared longingly out the window. Outside there was the world he was isolated from. Outside he could actually communicate with real people. Outside was where his life was. Inside, however was the opposite. Inside there was people paid to be friendly, when in entirety most were not. Inside he had no friends who were willing to give up their time to check in on him. Inside he had no life, just the white hospital bed he lay on, and the dull beeping of the clock beside him.
It had been a day. Riku had kept track. Every hour a nurse would come in and check on the second machine in the room. It was a grey machine, large, and had several tubes. One was connected into his bloodstream at his arm. Its purpose was to draw the blood from his body into the machine, remove the excessive amount of drugs, and then return the blood as clean as it was before this whole thing started. Apparently he had been on this for awhile now, and he had just realized it hours before.
The nurse had asked if he wanted to sleep during the procedure, claiming it would seem like it went by faster, and that he would not have to deal with shortness of breath and periodical pain. Riku rejected based on two facts. One being that if he had a cardiac arrest, stroke, or anything of the sort, he wanted to be awake when it happened so he could use his last breath to gasp for help. Two being that if he went to sleep and something went wrong, he would never have a chance to say good bye to anyone.
That was where he was now. Locked in a white room, having nothing to do except listen to the beeping of his heart monitor. Emerald eyes focused dully on his outstretched hands, memorizing the miniscule grooves and lines that composed his fingerprint. There was nothing else better to do, so he just laid there doing such.
Did anyone know of his supposed overdosing? Would people treat him differently when he got back? Would Sora even speak to him? Riku bit his lip painfully at the lingering questions. Every time he thought he got the questions off his mind, they would comeback and give him another pounding head ache. No matter what the doctors say, Riku mused dully as he laid there, I know what happened. I took two. I took two then I blacked out. The truth was there, but n one was willing to believe him. Everybody lies.
Right now, more than ever, did he want some communication with the outside world. Anything would suffice. A picture, a video, a phone call, a visitor, anything to show him that the world outside was still going strong, and that when he returned, everything would be the same. Even, in all honesty, it would never be the same.
Riku extended his hand to the right, reaching for the tan telephone resting on the nightstand. Shaky hands grabbed the phone after several tries, holding it with a firm grasp so it would not fall. Riku brought the phone to his face, dialing in the number to his friend before placing it to his ear. One ring. Two ring. Three ring. Four ring.
"Hey. This is Sora, at 555-5675. I'm not here right now so leave a message and I'll get back to you? Mmkay?" The answering machine's message ended followed by a beep sooner after.
Sora's voice. His best friend's voice. That was all he needed to hear to confirm that the world was still fine outside of these white walls. However his picayune glee soon faded, soon replaced by anger. Sora had not called him, and was not answering his phone, or even came to see him. Was he not worried? Or was he just that mad? The beep cut off Riku's thoughts as he shakily parted his lips to speak.
"Hey, Sora... its me. I was wondering how you were ... I'm really sorry about... well everything. I promise I didn-" He cut himself off and pressed two to delete the message. That sounded far too weak and too corny to be him. Lips dropped into a frown as he pressed one to leave a different message. "Sora. Call me as soon as you can. You have the number." Riku winced, and deleted the message once more. This was pointless.
Riku slammed the phone back onto the receiver. He just gave up, right there. If Sora did not call him, then he would not call the boy. He would not get down on his knees and beg for his friend to call, he had to be strong. Still, it hurt knowing that because of his own pride he was not going to speak to the other for what felt like a million years.
As expected, a round of pain dragged Riku from his dismal thoughts. Trying to bare the pain, Riku gritted his teeth together painfully. The pain was located in his right arm, and he figured the blood flow in that area must have been clotted or something along those lines for the pain to arise. His hand itself of that hand felt slightly numbed. But as soon as the pain came, as strong as it was, it went just as quickly.
Riku exhaled sharply, sweat falling from his forehead. How long would he put up with this? Did people have to go through this kind of pain every day of their lives? This, compared to a messily head ache, was a thousand times worse. He would give anything to be back home with a head ache instead of here, having to endure arbitrary rounds of pain. It seemed unfair.
"Riku Karada."
The voice drew him, once more, out of his wandering thoughts. Sharp, green eyes turned to the entrance of his room. Standing at the threshold was a lanky man, exceeding over six feet easily. Spiky red hair stuck out in all directions, but was gelled back into several spikes. Cat-like green eyes stared across the white room at the silver-haired teen laying in the bed helplessly. The gaunt man, who appeared to be nineteen or so, paced across the room towards Riku, hands laced behind his back.
"..." And it took Riku that long to figure out just who the man was. The question that remained was why was he here? "Axel?" Riku inquired, voice drenched in disbelief and suspicion.
"Glad you remember." The red-haired teenager spoke, snagging a chair from across the room and pulling it beside Riku's bed. Axel sat himself upon the chair, legs resting on either side of it as he leaned his chin into the back of it. Green orbs followed Riku's own eyes, tracing every moment as if to memorize it.
"Why are you here?" Riku further pried, voice emotionless and empty. He had wanted contact with the outside world, but when it came, it felt so dry and useless. It was like this contact paled in comparison to actually being out there. It was a hard concept to understand and explain, and only someone in that situation knew exactly how it felt.
"Your father sent me." Axel clarified, raising a hand to his red spikes, running said hand through them leisurely. "He told me to tell you that he wants you when you return home to give him a call to make sure everything is all right there. He said your butler has the week off, so the house should be locked and the way you left it the other day when you get back." Axel explained with a slight yawn.
"And he sent you all the way here to tell me that?" Riku inquired, lifting an eyebrow in incertitude. Couldn't his father have just called the hospital and requested for his number?
"No. I also came here to tell you that your boyfriend saw me the other day and wanted me to tell you he said hi and that he misses you." Axel smirked as he toyed with a piece of his hair.
"Sora?" Riku questioned hopefully.
"Spiky brown-haired kid? Adorable smile? Virgin?" Axel replied, eyebrows lifting with interest.
"Yeah... him." Riku mumbled and then blinked. "And he's not gay." Riku retorted with a scoff. "Neither am I." A pause. "So never say that again." He narrowed his eyes, a bit offended.
"Geez. Don't go all suicidal on me." A sinister and cruel smirk from Axel as he arose from his seat to his feet. "Oh wait, that's right. You've already gone there." Another smirk as Riku's mouth fell open in disgust, as if to say something. Axel, however, cut him off. "I'll be seeing you around at school. Tell your boyfriend next time you see him that he has a nice ass and he probably won't stay a virgin long." And with that Axel stalked off.
"Fucking ass..." Riku seethed, banging his fist on the bed. Riku sighed, letting the anger seep out of him as he turned his head to stare out the window. How long would it be before he actually got to see the faces he cared so much for?
How long would this torture continue? Would it ... get any worse?
this chapter was a bit longer. the chapters should be about this length, maybe longer and hopefully never shorter. things still may be confusing to you readers, but hopefully they are slowly clearing up. this story will be dark, mind you. please leave a review.
