nothing owned, nothing gained. blah blah blah. NK
Chance looked from the office window out into the garage. So far so good, but it had only been a day with Claire working for them. He looked from her to Jake. Now that was a different story all together.
Jake ran his trembling paws through his dirty hair. He was shaking all over and sweating as if it was July instead of October. He desperately wanted a drink. And Claire had asked if he wanted to go to Marlene's but Chance had thrown a wrench in it, telling her that Jake was on the wagon.
"That's not what it looks like to me," she'd said but shrugged. "Whatever."
"God damn it!" Jake shouted and slammed his paws into the front of the car he'd been trying to work on. But his brain couldn't seem to focus. His skin felt like it was crawling with bugs and his stomach was doing flips.
"Whoa," Claire cut her brown eyes at him. "Chill out there, psychopath."
"Fuck you, Claire." Jake hissed. "Just... fuck you." He stormed off.
Chance came out of the office, shooting the new hire an apologetic look. "He's... uh... not normally like that."
"I kinda figured by the way you were hiding in the office. Is that some sort of hazing technique? Leave the new hire out here with the crazy moody one?" She crossed her arms over her flat chest and glared.
"Yeah..." Chance scratched the back of his head. "Look, I don't really know what's going on with Jake. I mean, I figured he'd be mad that I put my foot down about the drinking, but, I dunno, it's like he's sick or something."
"So... okay... he was at Marlene's two days ago. I'm guessing this whole sobriety thing is a new thing, right?"
"Yeah. Since yesterday." Chance shot a worried glance out the open bay doors to where Jake was pacing around, mumbling to himself.
"He's going through withdrawals." Claire pointed out at him.
Chance stared at her blankly. "Gah!" He slapped himself in the forehead after a moment. "I didn't even think about that!" He shot Jake a worried glance. "What should I do?"
"If he was in a hospital, they'd have him restrained." Claire smirked.
"They'd what? Is it that bad?" Chance's blue eyes widened.
Claire shrugged. "It can be. Depends on what your detoxing."
Chance watched Jake collapse to his knees and start vomiting. "Should I take him to the hospital?"
"You don't have anything to restrain him with here?"
"I'm not restraining him." Chance glared at Claire. "What else is there?"
"I don't know. Look, I had this friend once. She got sent to rehab and she said the first week was miserable. But the first 72 hours were absolute hell."
"What was she on?"
"Nothing. Alcohol."
"Okay," Chance gestured towards Jake. "Alcohol, check."
"Alright... she said it was like having the flu... you know vomiting, chills, sweating. But then there was weird stuff too like mood swings... I mean seriously violent mood swings. Hot to cold and then hot again in less than a second." Claire made a sniffing sound and scratched her nose. "She said she felt shaky, like from inside of her, you know? Down to the bone, shaking so bad she couldn't stand. Weak. Couldn't sleep or eat. Racing pulse. You know, now that I think of it, he should probably be inside. And you want to keep him hydrated. They gave her some kind of vitamins."
"Can you find out?" Chance started to walk outside.
"Can I use the phone?"
"So long as you aren't making a drug deal." He gave her a serious look.
Jake dug his claws into the dirt and gravel. He was shaking so hard, he thought for a moment he could feel the earth beneath him vibrating. "Jake."
"Huh?" He didn't lift his head or open his eyes. He was pretty sure he'd lost control of his bladder when he'd started to throw up but he couldn't tell because he was sweating so profusely.
"Think you can stand up?"
"Uh uh." Jake didn't bother shaking his head. His heart was beating so fast, he was almost positive that if he made any sort of vertical movement, he'd pass out. "Ch-Ch-Chance..." he stuttered. "What's wr-wr-wrong with me?"
"Come on. Let's get you inside." Chance hooked his paws under Jake's arms and carefully pulled him to his feet. He was so thin, it was like lifting a doll.
"Can't... gonna... pass out..." Jake struggled as his vision began to darken around the edges.
Chance felt the weight in his arms go limp. Carefully, he lifted his friend, making a face. "God you're a mess, buddy." He laid Jake on the couch in the waiting area and looked at Claire. "It's almost three. What do you say to calling it a day?"
"Am I still going to get paid for a whole day?"
Chance didn't reply. He simply went into the office and opened the safe. He counted out a days worth of pay and closed the safe back.
"Here you go." Chance handed the bills to her. "See you tomorrow."
Claire rolled up the money and put in her pocket. "Yep. And my friend said it was Vitamin B... thiamine or something like that" And she was gone.
Chance closed the shop and went back over to his unconscious friend. "When's the last time you took a shower?"
Chance lowered the feverish kat into the cool bath water. "Don't say I never did nothing for you." He said without any heat as he reached for the soap. By the time he'd scrubbed Jake, the fever had turned to chills. Chance turned on the warm water and used that to rinse him.
"Unh..." Jake moaned and turned his head as Chance was reaching for the drain plug.
"You with me, buddy?" Chance said almost tenderly.
"C-c-c-col-col-cold..." Jake trembled. "Th-th-th-thir-thir-thirsty..."
Chance held out a large fluffy towel.
Jake licked his lips. His mouth felt so dry. "Chance... I dunno... I can't... unh..." He clutched his stomach as he tried to force himself up.
"Take it easy, Jake." Chance felt a lump form in his throat as he helped Jake out of the tub, wrapping the towel snugly around him. "Let's get you warmed up."
"Why... why are you b-b-being so n-n-nice to me?" Jake felt like his legs were made of jelly.
"Because I care about you." Chance steered him towards his room and sat him on his bed.
"If y-y-you w-w-w-were m-my friend. You'd g-g-g-get me s-s-s-s-something to drink." Jake dug his claws into the tangled mess of sheets to steady himself.
"I'll get you some water as soon as I find something warm for you to wear." Chance ignored the hateful look he received as he came across a pair of clean sweat pants and a clean t-shirt. "You need to do some laundry, buddy."
"Fuck you," Jake hissed through his tightly clenched jaw as he struggled to put on the clothes that had just been dumped in his lap.
"Yeah well... I love you too, thanks." Chance shook his head sadly. He left briefly and returned with a bottle of water.
Jake looked at it, confusion evident in his cloudy eyes.
"You said you were thirsty." Chance held it out. "That's all you're getting."
They both jumped when the alarm suddenly went off. "Damn it!" Chance growled. "That she-kat has the worst timing!"
He looked at Jake. The skinny copper furred tom was shaking and breathing as if he'd just run a mile. And he was sweating again.
"Don't do anything stupid." Chance snapped. "If you aren't here when I get back, I will find you and take you to the clinic."
As soon as the door shut, Jake launched off the bed and immediately started tearing things apart. He moved the mattress and the bed, emptied out drawers and his closet. "Shit," he panted, scrubbing at his face. It wasn't that much longer before he heard the rumble of a nearby jet. "S'gotta be something... s'gotta be something here..." He stumbled out of his room and into the kitchen where he repeated the same careless search.
"FUCK YOU CHANCE!" Jake shouted angrily. "Chance..." He gasped and went into his friend's room. Straight to the bedside table he went. Inside there was a silver engraved flask. From his father before he died. Jake lifted it and shook it. Empty. He dropped it back inside the drawer and sank down to the floor. "What's wrong with me?" He rocked forward, dragging his claws down his cheeks. How many times had he told Chance he could control it? That it wasn't excessive? To fuck off? He pushed himself to his feet and stumbled to the bathroom. For the first time in years, he looked in the mirror. A small gasp of shock escaped his chapped lips. The kat looking back at him didn't look 28. The kat looking back at him had sunken eyes and hallow cheeks. The whites of his eyes were red and his fur had lost its shine. Jake hit the mirror with an open palm. It clicked open and Jake's eyes now rested on a bottle of mouthwash, honing in on the alcohol content warning. His breathing hitched and it was in his paws before he could tell himself 'no.'
It didn't take T-Bone any more than a couple of hours to deal with the latest Dr. Viper attack. When he'd finished, however, he decided to go on a different mission. He wanted to do a little bit of reconnaissance on their new hire. The orphan. Abandoning the Turbokat in a secluded area and activating it's stealth mode, he took the Cyclotron through the city. He wasn't surprised at all to find himself in the poorer part of the metropolis. Like a superhero from one of his beloved comic books, he used his grappling hook once he could no longer be inconspicuous on a motorcycle. It wasn't long before he found himself perched on the fire escape outside her window. Just as the sun was setting.
Claire took a puff off the smoldering joint she'd been handed and passed it back. "That's dank," she replied, her voice tight as she held the smoke in her lungs. Exhaling slowly, she sat down on a couch that looked like it had been picked up off the side of the road.
"So," one of her roommates coughed. "How'd the first day go?"
"I didn't fuck it up, if that's what you're asking." Claire pulled a box out from under the couch and set it on the table. In it was a mirror, a razor blade and a piece of a straw. Then she pulled something out of her pocket that looked like a pen. Unscrewing the top, she poured its contents onto the reflective surface. As she sculpted it into a straight line, she looked up at her roommate. "You want some of this, Joe?"
"Nah," Jocelyn, Joe for short, shook her paw. "Not in the mood to get wound up."
"Good," Claire picked up the straw. "After what I had to do to get this, I didn't want to share anyway." She stuck one end of the straw in her nose and used a finger to close the other end. In one quick, fluid motion, she sucked the line of white powder up into her sinuses. Her eyes widened and she made a small gasping sound. "OH... god that's good... think I'm gonna go to Marlene's. You wanna go?"
"Nah." Joe shrugged, staying slumped in the duct tape covered bean bag. "I'm kinda hungry. Think I'm gonna order a pizza... heh or three.. what if I ordered three pizzas, Claire? You think I could eat them all?"
Claire stood up. "Yeah."
Before she could head out, the phone started ringing. "What up dawg?" She said brightly into the receiver. "Jake? Why the fuck are you calling me?"
Jake spent a long time fighting the urge to drink the cold green liquid taunting him from inside its plastic confines. He bounced back and forth between wanting to stop the pain and wanting to just stop. He didn't remember picking up the phone or why he even dialed her number. They weren't friends. They were associates, coworkers. "Cl-Claire?"
"Jake? Why the fuck are you calling me?"
"I..." Jake hated the way his heart was beating. "I didn't have anyone else..."
"What about Chance? Don't you guys, you know, live together?"
"Please... You don't have any reason to help me... I know... and I'm a jerk but... damn it..." Jake slammed the mouthwash bottle down on the coffee table.
"What do you want? I'm about to hang up on you." Claire was pacing by the door, nervous, twitchy energy bubbling inside of her.
"What happens if you drink mouthwash?" Jake spat out.
"That bad, huh? Look, I'm on my way to Marlene's. You want me to just pick you up?"
"No!" Jake shouted. "No. Chance... I can't... I just want this to stop... and I don't know what I'm doing here."
"Okay." Claire snorted. "Then drink the fucking mouthwash. When you get the shits and then go into convulsions because you turned down my offer, I don't want to hear about it." She hung up the phone. "See you later, Joe! Tell Lynn I said 'blow me' when she gets in."
Joe giggled. "You don't want the 'me' part. Just the 'blow.'"
"Damn straight." Claire smirked. "Later."
T-Bone felt his gut twist at the one sided conversation he'd just heard. Was Jake really that desperate? Shaking, T-Bone fired his grappling hook away from the fire escape and swung back through alley ways to get back to the cyclotron and then back to the Turbokat.
When the platform finally rose up to the main floor of the hangar, the Swat Kat jumped out and started immediately peeling off his flight suit in his rush to get to his friend before he did something stupid. But when he saw Jake curled up at the bottom of the steps, rocking himself and bleeding as he repeatedly dug his claws into his arms, he froze.
"What're you doing down here?"
Jake gave him a haunted look. "I..." He looked up the stairs and then back at Chance. Then down to the floor. "I locked myself in here."
"You didn't do it, did you?"
"Do what?" Jake sounded lost.
With his flight suit balled up in his arms, Chance sat down next to Jake, the cold concrete leeching through his boxers. "I tailed Claire. I wanted to see what she was like. I heard her half of your conversation with her."
Jake shook his head. "What's she like?"
"I thought you were a mess." Chance teased, gently nudging Jake with his arm. "But I get the feeling that it's more of a case of 'the wrong kind of friends' than her trying bury her pain in substance abuse."
"Chance...." Jake sagged weakly against his friend. "God I'm so stupid...."
"No you're not." Chance looked at his feet. Then he smiled. "Okay... maybe you are a little bit sometimes, but I won't hold it against you."
Jake made a strangled sobbing noise. "I just want..." He sucked in a shaky breath. "I'm sorry."
Chance hazard a glance at his friend and felt his heart sink at the tears streaming out of the once clear and bright amber eyes.
"I'm just... sorry..." Jake repeated before he fell apart.
Chance put his arm around his best friend and sat there while he cried. "I don't think you can fix her, Jake." He felt hot tears soaking into the thin fabric of his white undershirt. "But you're gonna have a better chance if you can get your head together."
tbc...
no comment. NK