Chapter 38

The sight of Bert and Lisa on her front doorstep surprised Maxie. "I thought that you would be coming by later! What's the special occasion?"

"Merry Christmas, sis," said Bert as they hugged.

"We came over to see Annie," continued Lisa. "To try and cheer her up."

"You can try, but I haven't been able to get her out of her bedroom all morning," said Maxie. "Your brother..." Maxie stopped herself from saying something she might regret as she noticed the somber looks on the faces of Bert and Lisa. "Hopefully you'll have better luck than I have."

Bert and Lisa walked upstairs and knocked on the second door on the right side of the hallway. "Annie?"

"Go away! I'm not coming out!" cried Annie from the other side of the door.

"Annie, it's Lisa and me here," said Bert. "You don't have to come out, but we would like to talk to you if that's alright."

Annie wiped away some of her tears and blew her nose. "Okay, come in."

Bert and Lisa weren't surprised by Annie's appearance. Her eyes were red and puffy, with kleenexes everywhere, and photos of her and Bentley scattered on the bed. She even had her childhood toy of the stuffed raccoon with the open arms sitting beside her. "We came to talk to you about Bentley," said Lisa. "We're not here to judge you or protect my brother. We're here to tell you the story of what's been going on."

"He's just not the same Bentley anymore," started Annie, still sniffling.

"You're right; remember our chat last night?" asked Bert. Annie nodded her head. "There is more to it than that."

"More? He liked to have a little fun before, so what makes the past few months worse now?" asked Annie.

"My brother has a drug and alcohol problem, Annie," said Lisa, coming and sitting beside her on the bed.

"What?" gasped Annie. "He never did drugs in high school!"

"We know, Annie," said Bert. "He started about a month after you left for university. He was looking for a rush; for something to take his mind off of you being gone. Is it right? Hell no. But he was depressed and looking to fill the void."

"Why are you coming to me with this now?" asked Annie, a little annoyed.

"We saw some signs of it the past few months, but we had no proof," said Lisa. "Last night was the final straw, after I saw you run out and Bentley groping some other floozy. Sure enough, I went back to my parent's place and found mushrooms in his dresser."

Annie was at a loss for words. "Why would he be doing this to himself and hurting others around him?"

"He was having such a good time with you last night," began Bert, "that he wanted to push the boundaries, like he had been doing after you left. Unfortunately, the mixing of drugs and booze pushed him over the edge."

Annie started to get a little curious. "How is he this morning?"

"A mess; both physically and mentally," said Lisa. "Our family confronted him this morning about his drug use. To make him realize that he's ruining his life, and if he doesn't stop now, he will be pushing away everyone who is looking out for him. Or maybe even worse."

"We are not forcing you," said Bert, "but I think it would be great if you still came over to George and Nicole's. You shouldn't feel lousy on Christmas. Besides, I think you and Bentley need to talk."

Annie turned back and looked at all the memories of Bentley and herself on the bed. "I don't think I'm quite ready yet," her voice cracking as she talked. "I'll think about it."

"That's all we can ask," said Lisa before she gave Annie a hug. "If you need anything, you know where to find us."

"Thanks you guys," said Annie. "You're great. Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas, kiddo," said Bert as he hugged his niece. Bert and Lisa had a warm feeling after they left the Ringtail house. "Let's hope," said Bert as Lisa nodded her head in approval.

Bentley was feeling sorry for himself while looking at his reflection in the mirror. "What am I doing to myself? How can I be so stupid?" he shouted as he threw his alarm clock, smashing it on the floor. He plopped himself onto the bed, and turned his head towards the dresser. A picture on the corner of the dresser caught his eye. It was a picture his mother took of a younger Annie and Bentley holding hands as they were walking to school one morning. He grabbed the picture and turned it around, noticing the date of September 1992. It was weeks after the Mount Vulcan disaster. He was so thankful then just to be alive; there was no room for selfishness. He looked closer at the picture, seeing the remains of Mount Vulcan in the distance. This carried his mind off to another place.

Bentley ran as fast as he could to where Annie's house used to stand. A look of horror crossed his face as he saw what appeared to be Annie's curled up body partially buried in debris with her head under a very large and heavy looking support beam. "Annie, are you okay? Say you're okay, are you okay, Annie?" Bentley cried out as he made his way to her body.

To his horror he saw blood, a lot of it, staining her blue overalls and shirt. The heavy beam had fallen onto her bed and the floor of her room but she appeared to be stuck in a small triangular space between the bed and the floor. Whether she was still alive was another matter. "Annie, please say something!" he shouted to her prostrate form.

"Help! Help! Someone please, help!" he shouted to no avail as there apparently were no neighbours in the vicinity, so Bentley tried his cell phone. Still no signal. "Dammit!" he cursed as now he knew there was only one way to free her.

Bentley put his arms around the beam and tried to lift it. Not succeeding, he repositioned himself and tried again; this time the beam moved a little. Bentley promised whatever entity that was in control of this universe that he would not treat Annie bad ever again if he could just move the beam off her head.

The beam finally moved in a fit of super raccoon strength he managed to pick the beam up enough to free her. With the beam moved he knelt down to see if she was at least still alive. "Annie?"

Annie opened her eyes and saw three Bentleys. Her initial thought was of what she could do with three Bentleys. "Bentley?" she spoke in a weak response, which was music to his ears.

"Yes," he said in reply.

"I hate you."

Bentley began to choke ever so slightly as he said back to her, "I hate you too."

After Bentley zoned out of that horrible, life-gripping experience, he started to cry. "I promised myself never to treat Annie bad again," he spoke in between sobs. "I broke that promise. I'm so selfish, I let everyone down. I'm hurting everyone. And Annie. I love her...so...much." Bentley turned his face into his pillow and cried himself to sleep.

Christmas just wasn't the same in the Raccoon household this year. It didn't matter what goofy things Bert said, or how happy Cynthia was to open her presents. Bentley wanted to be left alone, and no one could blame him. But he had no one to blame for this situation but himself.

"We were all young once," piped up George while the family was sitting in the living room. "I just hope he realizes what he's doing before its' too late."

"He's a smart kid, George," said Ralph. "We all make mistakes. We will be there for him every step of the way."

Everyone nodded in agreement. At that moment, there was a knock on the front door. "I wonder who thats can be?" asked Nicole.

George was shocked when he opened the door. "Annie? What are you doing here? After last night..."

Annie was blunt and to the point. "I know what happened last night, Mr. Raccoon. I want to see Bentley."

Bert and Lisa smiled at each other as Annie walked up the stairs.

"Whats did youz two do?" asked Nicole.

"We're hoping a little Christmas magic," smiled Bert as he held Lisa's hand on the couch.

Bentley awoke to a knock on his door. "Go away!"

"It's me," said Annie. "And I won't take no for an answer, buster."

Bentley realized who it was. "Come in. Why would you want to spend your Christmas with a sleaze like me anyway?"

"Because I still love you, silly," said Annie, coming through the door. "I need you to be honest with me. Bert and Lisa came to see me this morning."

"Did they tell you that I was throwing my life away too?" asked Bentley, annoyed.

"They told me the troubles you were going through while I was gone," said Annie as she sat on the bed beside him. "Drugs? You never used any drugs before!"

Bentley's sarcastic mood switched to sorrow. "I was living on the edge. Trying to be invincible. All it did was push everyone further away. That's what I was doing last night. I had one ecstasy tablet left in my jacket pocket; I didn't want our great night to end."

"Bentley, you don't need drugs to have a good time," said Annie, putting her hand on top of Bentley's. He felt the warmth of her touch as it warmed his heart. "Look what happened to your sister. Drugs wreck people's lives."

Bentley started to cry. "I just miss you so much! All I want to do is hold you every night. To enjoy life together." He got up and grabbed the picture on the dresser. "Remember this?"

Annie looked at the picture of the two holding hands. "You were so sweet. You haven't been that raccoon since I came back."

"This morning, I found this picture," said Bentley, sniffling up the tears. "This picture reminds me of how close I came to losing you. I was thinking back to Mount Vulcan."

Annie remembered back to the time when she awoke and saw three Bentleys. "You were playing hard to get," she smiled as she held the picture. "But you were there for me when I needed you most."

"And I still want to be," started Bentley. "You are my world. We grew up; we experienced a lot together. Subconsciously, I always knew drugs were bad. I was just using them to ease my bruised ego. I want to stop. I don't want to lose my family and friends."

"And you," said Annie, coming over to embrace him. "I want to be with you too. I don't want to be with some other guy. You are my rock."

The two raccoons kissed and looked at each other deep into their souls. "I hate you, Annie Ringtail."

"I hate you, too," replied a smiling Annie as they touched their foreheads and noses together.

Author's Note: I would like to extend a special thanks to Nicky4 for letting me use a snippet of "Trapped on Mount Vulcan" in this chapter. I really appreciate it!