Part five: Big Changes

Chapter five: Crumbling

The return home was anything but one of rejoice for Mike and Micky. As it was, when they arrived at the house, Micky turned to Mike and confided in him that he was scared to be back. Mike coaxed Micky to go inside and see their friends any way. Immediately after this, Micky took a pill bottle from his pocket and swallowed a few pills. Mike watched, a bit surprised and upset, but let it slide as they walked into the house.

As soon as the two men entered, their friends leapt up from the couch and bounded over to Micky in delight. Micky promptly withdrew from them and dismissed their gleeful reaction towards him being home. This dismissal on Micky's part sucked all the life from the room in a matter of seconds. It wasn't even a gradual shift into the unsettling mood, rather a head-on collision with the dark, cold wall that surrounded Micky. Nobody had to say it, as it was mutually felt by all four of them. Micky was back in the house, but no in their lives.

Though clearly hurt by Micky's present demeanor, Peter was the first to speak up. He asked Micky about the drugs he was on, but Micky gave him a verbal shove away. Peter flinched and backed off a bit before turning to Mike with the same questions he had just asked Micky. Mike muttered a response, stating the drugs he witnessed Micky taking just before entering the house, as well as on the car ride there. This only momentarily satisfied Peter, as well as Davy, but all three of them knew Micky had more. They all knew Micky had more drugs in his system, but they also knew it was pointless to ask which ones or how many. Neither of them really wanted to know.

It broke their hearts, watching Micky enter the downstairs bedroom. They could not stand the sight of him in the state he was in. The Micky that they knew and loved was still there buried deep beneath all the drugs and pain. The trouble was, neither of them knew how to help him bring that Micky back. All they knew was, it was going to take time.

…

Mike stood in the upstairs bedroom and gazed dejectedly out the window. He sighed and pressed his hands on the windowsill. His back and shoulders were hunched, causing him to look as though he was being emotionally crushed by the weight of the world. He felt responsible for what Micky was going through and he knew that the only reason Micky came home right then was due to guilt.

Sounds of someone leaving the bedroom next door came to his ears. He didn't feel the need to lift his head or react towards this person entering the room, as he knew who it was. He didn't react at all even when she placed a soothing hand on his back. With that touch of her hand, Mike could tell that Trixie was hurting just watching him stand there in his own pain.

"What's going on?"

Mike sighed, still looking out the window. "Got Micky to come home."

"Oh? Well that should be good… right?"

"Yes and no. Mostly no. He's on drugs and there's no way of telling which ones or how many he's currently on." Mike shook his head "I feel like it was too soon to bring him home. He wasn't ready."

"Oh man…" Trixie sighed and rested her head on his shoulder. "Are we going to do anything about it?"

He looked at her "What could we do?"

…

Peter and Davy stood outside on the balcony as they spoke to each other about the situation. Davy leaned, half-sitting on the railing and held his head down. He listened for a moment as Peter shared his ideas on how they should handle Micky and his drug use. With a sigh, Davy nodded his head, trying to take in everything that Peter was saying to him. Davy looked up at him, revealing uncertainty and sadness in his eyes.

"So… do you think we can handle this with him?"

Peter shrugged sadly. "Probably not. Drugs turn people mean, Davy. This is gonna be so hard."

"Well… I guess… I guess we'll find out together. All of us."

Still in the middle of their discussion about Micky, Trixie led Mike down the stairs and into the living room. They both walked near the couch as they talked, but they never sat down despite several attempts at it. They became passionate towards the topic at hand, but not angered. This brought the other two men inside to join their heated discussion. They each provided solutions as to what to do about Micky. Most of what was suggested involved stripping Micky completely of his drugs, forcing a full detox on him, and treating him like a rebelling teenager by enforcing strict rules and a curfew on him. There even was a brief and not-so-serious suggestion of removing Micky's TV privileges. This wasn't meant as a way to get a laugh but rather to steer them away from such a strict regime as it surely would have the worst results with Micky.

Their discussion quickly ended and the mood abruptly shifted as the door to the downstairs bedroom opened. Micky stood, leaning against the door frame. He held a dreamy expression on his face and rubbed his fully exposed crotch. Looking at Mike, he smirked, and it was obvious exactly what he had on his mind and that he didn't care who was around to witness it.

"Mikey." He sang as he rubbed himself.

"What, Mick?" Mike sighed and looked towards the doorway. His eyes widened as he realized Micky was naked. "Oh shi- Micky what the hell?!"

Micky snickered "I'm horny. Come in here with me. Please?" he walked over to Mike and wrapped his arms around him before giving him a deep kiss. "Mm…. I missed this so much."

Trixie became furious as she watched this. She stormed over to them and pushed Micky away from Mike. Not wasting any time, she punched Micky in the face, stunning the other three men before she started crying.

"You may be on drugs but this has been going on way before you started using! I'm not stupid and I hate being lied to!" She turned to look at Mike. "I don't know for sure if something's been going on between you two, but this is making it hard to believe otherwise. This time I'm not going to ignore it! I won't let myself stay blind toward it! I've had enough of this, Michael!"

"Trix I-" Mike started before Trixie cut him off

"I don't want to hear it! I'm not going to stick around here to be lied to again! Baby or no baby, I'm out of here and don't try to talk me out of this or beg me to come back, because I'm done! We're done!"

She hurried away and stomped upstairs to gather her belongings. Then, as fast as she had gone upstairs, she rushed back down and out the front door, slamming it hard behind her.

The entire time this happened, Micky stood back, smirking and relishing in it all. He chuckled to himself before turning to Mike.

"Good." He dragged Mike over to the couch to sit with him. "Now she's out of the way. It can be just me and you. Like you wanted."

Mike shoved him away and furiously left the couch. He started to storm away but turned back around mid-step and faced Micky. He pointed a finger at him in a scolding manner and attempted to speak. However, due to his great anger at the moment, words failed him. Instead, he turned with a huff and headed out onto the balcony.

Staring with a frown, Peter gazed at Micky, shaking a bit. "Micky that was cruel! How could you?"

Micky glared at him "Fuck off, Peter! No one cares what you have to say about anything." He looked over at Davy and caught him staring in disbelief. "You got a problem, Davy?"

Davy frowned, words also failing him before he walked away. He walked over to the glass doors and peeked out at Mike. Before he could say anything to him, Mike quietly walked down the stairs to the beach. Davy glanced back at Peter helplessly as he motioned toward Mike. Peter sighed and headed outside to follow him.

…

Mike had wandered far from the house until it was out of view. It took a bit but Peter finally caught up with him. He huffed a little from running in the sand, but he caught his breath as he slowed down to walk along Mike's side.

"Mike stop! Wait up please!"

Mike kept walking, not looking at him. "Leave me alone, Peter." He grumbled. "Go back to the house."

"No, you're sad." Peter said innocently "Mike please talk to me. Please."

Mike whirled around to face him. "I'm not sad, Peter. Now please, leave me alone."

Peter frowned, a bit hurt. "Mike… I'm really sorry about Trixie. Please… be okay. We love you… at least me and Davy do." He sighed and hung his head.

"Look, I don't mean to hurt you." Mike said, softening a bit. "I just lost my girlfriend who's carrying my baby, and I'm really confused right now over Micky. I just need some time to think. Alright?"

Peter nodded before giving Mike a small hug. "We love you, Mike. Take your time." He turned and headed back to the house.

Turning to face the water, Mike sighed and sat in the sand. There he remained, unmoving for a while as he fixed his eyes on the horizon. As he thought about everything that happened that day, he watched as the sky slowly darkened with the chilling hues of the night.

…

The house remained quiet and mostly still the whole time Mike was gone. There was a sense of walking on egg shells near the area of the downstairs bedroom. Tension was so thick in the air near the bedroom that neither Peter nor Davy dared to enter to face Micky. At first, they had made minor attempts at entering, but Micky quickly and gruffly turned them out, demanding his privacy. They realized that they were actually glad to give it to him because he was such a stranger to them. A stranger, so hardened and cold had completely taken over Micky and pushed them away.

Inside the bedroom, Micky started to become agitated. He got off the bed and began anxiously pacing around the room. In his head he heard different voices telling him things he didn't want to hear; his voice, the voices of his friends and the people at the drug house he thought were his friends, and voices of people he couldn't place even though he recognized them. He could not sort out these voices or what they were all saying to him. He couldn't sort out the good things they said from the bad. He couldn't even silent any of them. The more he tried to block them all out, the more agitated he got. And the more agitated he got, the more he paced the room like a caged animal. He had to get out but he didn't want to leave at the same time.

Micky slowed down and stopped in the middle of the room. He blinked, confused over the images that flashed by in his mind. These were flashes of memories that were beginning to resurface; memories that had been locked away from quite some time. Suddenly he felt a pang of pain deep inside his brain. The pang faded quickly but returned even stronger, causing him to yell out and grab the sides of his head. He had never experienced anything like this before. The pang came again and it released a jumbled mass of memories, almost like mini video clips that were poorly edited together. The pain was stronger now, like someone had punched him hard on his head. It dropped him with a yell onto his knees and he clutched the side of his head. More memories rushed into his mind all at once, only this time they made more sense than the edited video clips. These memories also came with a name. Nobody spoke it to him; he just knew it was there. Oraculo.

Hearing Micky's yells of pain, Davy and Peter came running to the bedroom, though only Davy actually went inside to check on him. He rushed to Micky's side and gently placed a hand on his back.

"What's wrong?" Davy asked in concern "Are you alright?"

Micky shook, near tears, and looked at Davy "What happened, Davy? What's happening to me? I remember being at Oraculo's place, fighting him… Now we're here and I'm in pain. I don't understand!"

"Oraculo?" Davy asked, baffled. For a moment, he didn't know what to do but hug Micky and listen to what he had to say. Before Micky was finished, though, he realized exactly what had happened to him.

"You're going to be okay." Davy rubbed Micky's back. "You're going to be okay. You lost your memory for a while… you lost yourself actually. I think… well I know now, Oraculo took that all away from you. But a lot has happened since then, y'know."

At this point Peter entered the room and sat on the other side of Micky. He looked at Davy and listened to what he was saying to Micky in order to get the gist of what was happening. The two of them managed to keep Micky calm as they spoke to him. They kept him talking about everything and they began sharing with him, everything they had experienced since leaving Oraculo. When they got to their current point, explaining about the hippie house and all the drugs he was on, Micky snapped his head up in a small panic.

"Where's Mike?"

"He's out on the beach." Peter said, trying to calm him again. "You just caused Trixie to end their relationship and storm away. So Mike… well he left."

Micky's eyes filled with tears and he covered his face with his hands, full of remorse. "What have I done?" He sniffed and stood before hurrying out of the room.

…

Outside on the beach, Mike had not moved at all from his spot. He stared into the water, his eyes following the steady movement of the waves. Everything was dark except for a peaceful moonlight creating a glittering effect on the water. Mike frowned a little as he spotted a strange shadow moving around near the horizon. The shadow crept in towards the shore, pulling Mike into its dancing, hypnotic movements. He focused on the shadow, not realizing how much of a hold it had on him.

Mike stood, never taking his gaze off the shadow as it glided across the water. He could almost hear a haunting voice calling out to him. It called him by name, chilling him. It had him completely mesmerized. He started walking towards the water and the pull became stronger. There was no resisting it; he didn't want to fight against it. He kept walking into the water even as it rose higher and higher up his body. Even when it was becoming physically impossible to walk any more, when he could barely touch the bottom, he still moved forward. The voice, that shadowy whisper in his ear that had called his name, called to him again. It urged him to keep moving. It urged him to let go.

Micky ran onto the beach and searched all around in a panic for Mike. He called Mike's name repeatedly but there was no answer or trace of him anywhere. He ran all the way to the spot where Mike once sat and shouted with all he had, calling Mike's name again. Looking all around, Micky froze in his spot. He spied something in the water and a rush of panic rose in his body when he realized this was a person. The panic worsened when he realized this person was Mike. His eyes widened and he shook with fear when he saw a wave crash down upon Mike's head, swallowing him.

"MIKE!"