The day had gone well, he had sold just about 90% of his product which meant he made a great amount of profit. Most of the money would be heading into the next days product while he would keep the rest, unless his dad took most of it again.
Nick didn't blame him, it technically was his business that he was attending to. Either way he wasn't exactly in a big rush to get home, he had to meet up with Isaac anyways so he might as well take his time. He did this almost everyday and his brother would always meet him on time, but he still felt nervous for his 9 year old brother who was walking around the streets of Happytown by himself. Although Nick wasn't really in a much better position only being 11, any mammal who wanted to could easily over power him if they wanted. But so far in the past year and a half it hadn't happened.
Nick continued to walk until the meeting place came into view, a shut down gas station that had been abandoned since before he was born. Nick waited next to one of the pumps waiting for his brother like he normally did, but after a few minutes passed with no sight of him Nick began to get nervous.
"Where are you Isaac?" Nick asked aloud. He checked his watch, 8:34, he should have been there four minutes ago. He was about to take a step to go look for him when a small orange ball shot out from behind the gas pump.
"BOO!" Isaac screamed, easily startling Nick who was already unnerved. Nick shook his head while Isaac keeled over in laughter.
"You should've seen the look on your face" He said through his laughter.
"Yeah alright you got me, now can we get going I'm exhausted" Nick said turning to walk in the direction of home. Isaac catching up eventually, clearly in a chipper mood.
"I think I've got you beat today Nick" Isaac said with a smug look, "75% of my stuff was sold today. What about you?"
Nick looked at him with mock surprise, hoping to get back on his brother for his little prank.
"No way, you actually did beat me today" Nick said letting his jaw hang open. Isaac looked at the taller fox, equally as stunned. Since Isaac started a year ago Nick had always been able to sell more then him. Until now… or so he thought.
"Wait then how much did you sell today?" Isaac asked.
"Oh only 90%" Nick said, this time he had the smug look on his face.
"What! You liar, if I sold more then you then you couldn't have sold 90" Isaac said confused.
It was Nicks turn to laugh, "at least you still know how to do math. But yes I actually sold more then you. Like usual"
"How do you always sell so much?" Isaac asked. Nick always managed to sell 75 or more while Isaac barely managed to get rid 25 to 50. Today was an extraordinary day for the smaller fox, while for the larger one it was just another day in the office.
Their home eventually came into view.
"My selling techniques are a well kept secret, I first figured it out a few months before you started. Each mammal has their own technique, you just haven't found your way yet" Nick said walking up the steps to the small two story house. "Now quiet down and remember, no discussing this in front of mom"
"Yeah I know, you tell me this every night" Isaac said annoyed by his brothers secrecy.
'Because you're the one who is always talking' Nick thought to himself as he opened the door and stepped in. Inside he could smell dinner being made by his mother, faux chicken stew with steamed vegetables. It smelled wonderful and made Nick feel comfortable inside his home. He loved his mothers cooking, she could make anything taste good, even the disgusting fake chicken that the city had.
His father was sitting on the couch reading a news paper still in his business attire which consisted of a button up shirt and slacks, he must have gotten home from his real job a few hours ago because normally he wasn't home at this hour. During the day he would work at his tailor shop 'Suitopia' his business that he was proud to run. But because he worked there he could rarely find the time to go out and sell his 'real' product which could've been LSD, Cocaine, Marijuana, or just about anything else depending on what mammals were trying to sell. So instead of doing it himself he had his children do it for him. They didn't mind, school was pointless anyways when you were a fox. That's what their dad always said and after so much time on the street for Nick, he could attest to it as well.
When the door closed Nick's father put down his newspaper and smiled at the two boys. He quickly stood up and signaled for them to follow as he walked to a door that Nick knew would lead to the basement.
Down in the basement was where most of the drugs were kept, hidden in box's labeled as 'fabric' or 'string' so that his mother didn't know what was being hidden in there.
"How did we do today boys?" The old red fox asked.
"90% for me, there were a lot of buyers out near Sahara Square today" Nick said handing back the rest of the product that he had left as well as the money.
"And I sold 75% today" Isaac said handing his stuff over as well.
Their dad looked at Isaac with frustration, "oh Isaac why can't you be like your brother?" He asked.
Isaac looked to the ground, he knew at some point his father would get upset again, he just didn't expect it to be on one of his best days.
"I'm sorry dad I just don't really know what I'm doing yet" Isaac said honestly.
"Just find a way that works and use it, we are losing money at this point because of your laziness to sell" His dad said raising his volume a little. Nick hated when this happened, both fox's worked their butts off trying to support their father and in turn their family, but when one of them didn't live up to his standards then they were automatically a failure.
"Dad it's alright he still sold more then he normally does" Nick stepped in hoping to get his fathers attention off of Isaac.
"That's still not good enough, he should be out there selling as much as you if not more. I swear you are purposefully trying to ruin what I have sta-"
"Boys dinner's ready" Nicks mother called from the top of the stairs. Their father sighed,
"We will talk about this later" he said placing the drugs in the box's and the money in his pocket before heading upstairs. The two smaller foxes followed quickly behind him.
The dinner table was already set with plates, bowls, silverware, and food meaning all they had to do was sit down and enjoy. And they did. For a few straight minutes all that could he heard was the clinking of the utensils on the plates. That is until Nick's mother began her usual daily questioning.
"So boys how was school today?" She asked looking up from her meal.
This sort of thing happened everyday so both of the children at the table had gotten really good at making things up on the fly.
"It was good, I passed my math test and Mrs. Trunkaby gave me some candy for it" Nick started not bothering to look up from his meal. He could lie easily, that is until he was looking his mother in the eyes. Isaac had a little bit more difficult time lying.
"And I got a new friend in science class today" Isaac said.
"Oh yeah what's your friends name?" His mom asked looking at the small fox curiously.
"Uhh" Isaac said looking at Nick who simply shrugged at him. "Uuuuhhh Wilson Warthog" he said unconvincingly. Nicks mom clearly didn't buy it.
"Wilson Warthog. That's his name?" She said doubtfully.
Nick could see the sweat starting to drip down Isaac's face, he himself was starting to sweat as well. He had to step in.
"Wow mom are you making fun of the kids name?" Nick asked taking the metaphorical bull by the horns. His mom seemed taken aback and began to stutter over her own words.
"Well no I just- uh- no its just that" she said
"I mean Wilson didn't ask for that name it was just the one that his parents chose for him. I think you shouldn't be to hard on him" Nick said hoping to guilt her, and he knew it had worked when she looked down at her food and sighed.
"Yes Nick you are right" she then turned to Isaac, "sorry, I'm sure Wilson is very nice. I hope maybe I can meet him one day"
All three males at the table let out a silent sigh of relief. Nick felt a kick come from his right, where his father was sitting. He looked up to see his father who looked him in the eyes and nodded, clearly thanking him for fixing the situation. Nick only hoped that his father wouldn't add that on to his anger towards Isaac.
"And what about you honey, how was your day?" His mom turned her attention then to Nicks father.
"Oh well you know the usual. Made some suits for some preds. The prey suit store tried to come in and shut me down AGAIN" Nicks dad emphasized.
The prey suit store up town didn't like the fact that Nicks dad was so successful with his business so they often tried to sabotage his business with schemes that never seemed to work, or at least that's how it was according to Nicks father.
The rest of dinner passed on smoothly, no more questions to the kids only the parents talking about parent things. Before anyone knew it they were all done. The kids cleared the table and then headed towards the stairs that lead up to their room.
"Hold it" Nick heard his father call, stopping both him and his brother in their tracks. They both turned to see their father waiting at the bottom of the steps with his arms crossed. "Isaac I believe we have some unfinished business to attend to in the basement" he said.
Isaac sighed and went down the steps, knowing this was going to happen sooner or later. Nick simply watched as his brother left, his tail practically between his legs. Once he disappeared out of view Nick continued upstairs and into the room that he and Isaac shared. The room was small but was large enough for both young fox's to have their own beds and a single dresser where they kept their clothes.
There was nothing really to do, they didn't own any entertainment systems other than the TV down stairs and some board games, and his brother was busy being berated downstairs by his father, so all Nick did was sit on his bed and relax after the busy day.
About an hour passed before Nick heard Isaac coming up the steps. The door burst open and in walked Isaac, he quickly shut the door and turned out the lights, clearly not wanting to be seen. The small fox stormed across the room fell down on his bed. Nick allowed a few moments of silence to pass before he opened his mouth.
"So, how'd it go?" Nick asked bluntly. He didn't really know how else to start the conversation, he knew that Isaac knew what he wanted to talk about so he hoped that the younger fox would open up about what happened downstairs.
"Oh you know the usual. Dad thinks I'm ruining his business and kept saying that I need to be like you or I'm going to end up on the streets or something. I don't really know he says the same things every time and I think I'm just starting to block him out" Isaac said plainly.
Nick knew that the smaller fox was upset, but just like him, he had gotten really good at hiding it.
"You will find your way Isaac. You just gotta find out what works, and when you do you just have to milk it for all that it's worth" Nick said honestly.
Isaac sat up and looked at Nick through the darkness, both of the fox's had good night vision so it wasn't like they had needed the lights anyways.
"Well not everything down there was bad" Isaac said digging into his pockets until he found what he was looking for. He pulled his paw back out revealing a small bag with a single mushroom in it. "Look what I grabbed"
It was clearly one of the magic mushrooms that the two had been trying to sell all day. Nick sat up perplexed and almost frightened that his brother had taken it.
"Wh- how did yo- why- are you crazy?" Nick stumbled over his own words at the sight of the very thing that his father wanted them to sell.
"Oh come on Nick don't tell me you've never wanted to try one of those drugs before" Isaac said rolling his eyes at the fox's reaction.
"I mean I haven't really thought about it" Nick answered honestly. He had never done any drugs, he thought that his point was only to sell them and never really wanted to get in the way of the products that he was selling. "How did you even get that?" Nick asked.
"Easy, I went down the stairs first and before dad had even come down I put my hand in one of the box's and pulled out the first thing I felt which just so happened to be this. Then I slipped it into my pocket before he had even noticed" Isaac recalled proudly. "Now if I take half of it will you take the other half?" Isaac asked
Nick stared at the mushroom for a few moments, thinking over all the possible outcomes until he made his decision.
"Well I guess you're right. Might as well try the stuff that we sell" Nick said taking the bag.
The mushroom was small and delicate, it didn't exactly split down the middle leaving one portion bigger than the other. Nick being the bigger fox, and the older one, he took the bigger portion.
"Ready?" Isaac asked holding out the mushroom. Nick went through some second guessing before holding up the mushroom himself.
"Cheers" Nick said before placing the shroom in his mouth Isaac following suit.
It was putrid, it tasted like dirt and the inner scrapings of a garbage can. Nick wanted nothing more than to spit it out, but he knew how much these cost and he knew how much danger his brother put himself into to get it, so he chewed and swallowed but not without gagging a little as it slid down his throat. He could still taste it in his mouth, causing him to shiver in disgust. He could hear his brother having a similar reaction across from him.
"That was so gross!" Isaac said.
"Yeah it was, I expected something like the stuff that mom makes for us. But this… it just tasted like dirt" Nick said utterly surprised by how repulsive it was.
"Well do you feel anything?" Isaac asked.
Nick sat still for a moment in silence and tried to see if anything strange was happening to him. But the world was normal, his room still looked exactly the same, his environment was still a normal reality.
"No everything seems fine" Nick said, "maybe we have to wait for it"
"Yeah you're probably right, you want to play some cards?" Isaac asked.
"Sure that sounds good" Nick said moving down to the floor so they could play.
They played their card game for about thirty minutes, Nick of course winning almost every round, when there was a knock at their door.
"How are you boys doing?" Came the soft voice of their mother as she opened the door.
"We're doing good" Isaac responded. When their mother saw them she was surprised by what was in front of her.
"Do you boys ever have homework?" She asked watching the two boys play cards.
"I already did mine" Nick said
"Same here" Isaac pitched in.
Just then something began to happen. Nick was looking behind him at the door where his mother was standing, but the world was beginning to tessellate in his vision.
"Alright well I'm going to sleep, good night" His mother called before slowly shutting the door. Nick couldn't speak, all that he let out was a sound that didn't even make sense to him in his state. The sound caused his mother to look back at him one more time confused. Nick tried his best to put on a straight face and look normal, and it must have worked because his mother shut the door soon after.
Once the door clicked Nicks head snapped to Isaac. The small fox was clearly also feeling something as well as he looked at him with wide eyes. At this point Nick finally found his tongue,
"Bed" was all he could say. Isaac nodded in agreement, very quickly the two fox's moved to their own beds and lay down on top of them.
The world began to slowly morph int-
"Wait"
"Hold on" Judy said, cutting Nick off, "you're telling me that you took drugs for the first time when you were twelve years old?"
"Yes my first time having drugs was when I was twelve years old. I had been around them for a few years prior but never tried any of them. Now don't interrupt me" Nick said before continuing, "Anyways the trip…"
The trip was amazing, it lasted about two hours, the entire time Nick felt like he was in a world full of warm and coziness. He had his eyes closed more the majority of the time as he watched beautiful patterns of shapes and colors fly around the darkness. The bed he was lying on felt like a cloud, like he was flying through space on the softest material known to mammals.
He ended up falling asleep at some point and then woke up the next morning to the sun feeling refreshed. It was strange, he barely did anything during the high but after the whole experience he felt like a new mammal.
"Wake up boys its time to go to school" He could hear their father calling from downstairs.
Isaac was clearly awake too because as soon as he heard his fathers voice both of the fox's moved into action.
"How do you feel?" Isaac asked while he changed into fresh clothes.
"I feel great. How about you?"
"I feel different some how, but I don't know what it is" Isaac said honestly.
It was so strange, he didn't think he could ever feel like he did last night and even right now as he stood in his room he felt really good, and he knew he would have to try more to experience it again.
And he did, over the next two years he tried all sorts of drugs. At first he stayed on just the mushrooms, trying them on food to try and get past the disgusting flavor that they had. Eventually he moved on to different things though, he tried marijuana edibles that he didn't know if he really liked. He felt cozy while on them but he didn't really like how nervous they made him feel. He moved onto other things like Molly, and that made him feel good for a little but in the end he felt very sad like it was impossible for him to feel happiness again. This of course passed quickly. He never tried the white powder in the baggies that he knew as cocaine, for some reason the thought of taking something up his nose freaked him out.
The one thing he stuck to was always the psychedelics, the way that those mushrooms made him feel couldn't be replicated in any other drug that he tried.
That is until he found acid. When Nick had first been taught how to sell his dad never allowed him to sell LSD. He always said that it was meant for specific mammals. But on one day, about a year after Nick had first tried drugs his father called to him.
"Nick I want you to start selling this" His father said handing the small fox a small bag full of smaller white tabs.
"Really you want me to start selling this stuff?" Nick asked perplexed taking the bag and examining the small white tabs.
"Yes the mammals who I had originally buying it can no longer do so, so I want you to go out and sell it on the street" Nicks dad said.
"Ok, and just out of curiosity what does it do to mammals when they take it?" Nick asked curiously.
"Oh its just like the mushrooms, it gives you a similar experience for a longer period of time"
Nicks heart rate picked up at the sound of that. A substitute for mushrooms that hopefully didn't taste like trash and lasted longer, it was exactly what Nick had been looking for.
And that same day Nick tried it for the first time. It was exactly as his father said, the same experience but some hot it lasted about 10 hours long. It was perfect and something that Nick knew he would comeback to everyday if he could.
He continued to switch between the acid and mushrooms everyday for about a year. One thing he noticed is that the more often he took them the less of an effect he would feel from them, so he would then go ahead and take more of them. In the first month he was taking a single tab, but by the second month he was up to two and things only went up from there. It was by the time he was 13 that he was reaching dangerous levels of up to seven tabs a day. And it was one of those days where everything fell apart.
Nick was sitting at his usual corner of Happytown, waiting for mammals to come to him so that he could do his usual business. Two years ago he would've been much more careful, but after doing this for almost four years he felt like he knew what he had to do at any moment.
It was about midday when he felt a need for a trip, so the fox simply backed up into the alley and pulled out a bag full of acid tabs. His conscious had been muted a long time ago and now he felt no danger from taking the drugs, it was like a second nature to him.
One by one he popped the tabs in his mouth, letting them dissolve a little before swallowing them. Before he knew it he had all seven down, but for some reason Nick felt like going the extra mile. There was only one tab left in the package which would be a waste to sell a single tab.
'Ah screw it, might as well try one more' He thought to himself as he popped the eighth tab into his mouth.
Once he was done he threw away the package and returned to his street corner just in time for a customer. One of the usual suspects, a small weasel named Duke Weaselton, he was about ten years older than Nick and he really loved his coke.
"Hey Weaselton here for your usual?" Nick asked kindly.
"Ye- yeah kid just the usual. You know me, I really need my fix" the scrawny weasel said scratching his body while his eyes darted all over the place.
The weasel handed him the money and Nick handed him the goods from his backpack, an easy deal done smoothly. That is until the weasel immediately opened the bag, stuck his finger in and then shoved it up his nose. He had never done this before and it somewhat startled Nick.
"Wow Duke I guess you really did need your fix huh?" Nick asked taking a step back.
The sound of a police siren broke up the interaction as both mammals heads snapped to the source. A police cruiser slowed to a stop on the side of the road and out stepped a lion in a police uniform.
"BOTH OF YOU DON'T MOVE" the lion yelled.
'Since when were there police cars in Happytown?' Nick thought to himself.
The fox and weasel stood still for a moment contemplating their next move.
"Good luck kid" Weaselton said before taking down the alleyway.
Personally Nick was just going to stay still but when he saw the weasel run he decided to take his chances so he too took off down the alley.
He could hear the officers following him, the sound of their paws pounding the earth behind him. Nick knew his way around Happytown extremely well, its just at this point he didn't really know where to go, and even worse he could feel the acid beginning to enter his system.
The alleyway he was running down began to morph and transform into a parallel universe. It was slow at first but the more he ran the more it happened. Eventually his world became an absolute abomination, the patterns of the bricks were moving in different directions, he felt like there were mammals breathing down his neck, every time he looked around his environment changed with different hallucinations. He could feel his breathing picking up as well as his heart rate, the blood rushing loudly through his ears, and weirdest of all he felt like he was running out of energy. Like his body was on overdrive and it was now running out of fuel.
And then he saw it, 'Suittopia', his dads store.
'He can help me' Nick thought to himself running up to the door. It took him three tries but eventually he got the door open, his world still continuously crashing around him, the sounds of the officers footsteps becoming deafening even though they were still well away from him.
As soon as he stepped inside he yelled out,
"DAD!"
The scream took all the energy he had left in his body and he collapsed on the ground. The world around him continued to move but he began to perceive things differently. He felt as if everything around him existed but everything that he couldn't see didn't actually exist. His family were all really just actors, or figments of his imagination. The police who were chasing him didn't actually exist either until they popped into his view from where he was on the ground. He couldn't understand anything that he was happening, it was all just noise.
The police jostled him checking to see what had happened, the lion being the one kneeling over him. That is until he was pushed out of the way by a red blur. Nicks father now stood over him, shaking his son. Nick's mind was blown, he didn't know what was happening anymore, his dad had just returned when he didn't exist.
'What is going on?' Was all that Nick could think to himself.
"Out of my way" Edward said pushing the lion off the small fox.
He grabbed onto Nick's shoulders and shook him.
"Nick are you alright, whats happening?" He asked worried for his sons health.
"Sir we think he is overdosing on some sort of drug, I need you to step away" The lion said putting a paw on Edwards shoulder. Edward snarled and pulled away from the lion,
"Get your paws off me, my son doesn't do any drugs" Edward said. He knew Nick never took any of the things that he told him to sell, he was more responsible then that.
"Delgato" came a female voice that took the attention of both males.
A female cheetah officer was standing over the backpack that Nick had dropped when he came in. The backpack that Edward knew had drugs in it. In the cheetahs paw was a bag full of cocaine.
'Shit' the fox thought to himself. He had to act surprised or they might suspect where Nick got them from.
"Oh my gosh. I have no idea where he got that from" Edward said with his best acting that he could muster.
"Spottedtail call in for an ambulance we're going to have to get him to the hospital asap" the lion officer told the cheetah.
There were two things on Edwards mind, one was that he worried for his sons health and safety, and two: 'what am I going to tell his mother?'
Things were flying by and Nick had no idea what was going on. First he was in his fathers shop, next he was surrounded by strange looking mammals, then he was in the back of an ambulance, and then finally he was in a plain white room.
Everything, all the mammals he loved were gone and he was stuck in this never ending purgatory of nothingness. He was stuck in this room forever to think about all that he had done wrong. He didn't know it but he was crying, not even that, he was sobbing and screaming, but in his mind it horrifyingly silent.
He could feel time slipping by and after he lost track of the hours he was there he started to count the days until the days gave way to months which then gave way to years. This is how it was now, there was nothing except this room and all that was in it.
All that Nick could feel was fear, the normal joy that he would have on acid was completely nonexistent and was replaced by utter fear. Fear that he would never escape this unending prison that he found himself in.
While he continued to flounder around in his mind the tears continued to roll and mammals watching through the door continued to take pity on the small fox.
Edward looked through the door at his son and felt frustration roll over him. He knew that the only way his son could have gotten this deep into an overdose is if he had taken some of the drugs that he was supposed to sell. And he must have been doing it for awhile by the looks of it.
It had been about fifteen minutes since they had checked into the hospital, and when Nick wouldn't lie still they had no choice but to handcuff him to the bed frame. The younger fox would not stop murmuring about 'they don't exist' and 'why me?'. And now on his bed he was screaming and sobbing to be let out, the doctors had gone in already and run their tests and now Edward simply sat around waiting for his results.
"Where is my son?" Came a female voice from down the hall that Edward had been anticipating and fearing all day.
Down the hall stormed his wife, Amelia, clearly in a fit of rage. And he knew who the rage was about to be directed towards. When she locked eyes with his he knew that he was in for a trip.
"EDWARD WILDE YOU HAVE SOME EXPLAINING TO DO!" She yelled walking quickly up to him.
"Now Amelia dear, before you yell at me. I did not do anything, this was all Nicks doing. I don't know how he got those drugs and the doctors still don't really know whats happening to him." Edward said backing up from his wife with his paws up in a sign of surrender.
All that he had said (although not all true) deflated her argument that she had prepared. So instead she turned to the window to look at her son. The sight she saw brought tears to her eyes. Her whole goal was to make sure that her children's lives stayed on track, and she had failed. It would be extremely difficult to recover from something like this, in her mind the small fox was addicted to whatever drug he had taken and in reality it was true. Through all of his drug taking, Nick had become addicted to psychedelics, specifically mushrooms and LSD.
The two fox's sat in the chairs that the hospital had in front of each room while they awaited the doctors diagnosis. They waited in silence for about 30 more minutes until a doctor eventually stepped in front of them.
"Mr. and Mrs. Wilde?" A female snow-leopard asked with the intention of gaining the two foxes attention. Both mammals looked up at the leopard hoping that she had arrived with good news.
"Doctor can you please tell me what is happening to my son?" Amelia asked standing up from her seat and approaching the leopard.
"Yes I can but I recommend you sit back down, it is not a great outlook" She said with somber eyes causing Amelias eyes to begin to well up with tears once again, "he will survive but he is currently going through a psychosis caused by an overdose on LSD. We have pumped him full of benzodiazepines which should speed up the process of bringing him back down to reality. But I can't promise that when this is over that he will be the same fox that you know. This 'bad trip' could change the way he thinks and the way he perceives the world around him. He may continue to experience hallucinations or visuals that occur when on LSD without being on the drug. We don't know for sure if this will be the case but there is only one way to find out and that is to let him come down naturally. When he is fully out of his trip I will then let you go in and see him" she said flipping one last time through her notes to make sure she hit every subject. "That is all I have for now, I will check on him in a few hours" she said before stepping away from the family.
Amelia looked back at her son and started to cry again, the thought of her little Nick never being the same again scared her and made her fear the worst. Meanwhile Edward sat there wondering at what point Nick had starting taking drugs from him. He had noticed things missing every once in a while but he always that it was because of Isaac's incompetency. Now he knew where they had gone and he was mad, mad at the fact that his own son would deceive him in such a way.
"Edward, someone has to go make sure Isaac is okay. Can you go check on him at school?" Amelia asked, her tears having gone away.
The male fox sat for a moment and debated what his next move should be. There wasn't really a choice that he could make at this point, he didn't want his wife to get suspicious of anything.
"Sure sweetie, I'll go check on him" he said kissing her forehead before leaving.
As soon as he was gone the mask came off and a frown formed on Amelias face. She knew her husband was lying, when they had first met she knew that he sold drugs. But she was certain that he had given it up when he opened Suittopia, married her, and when Nick and Isaac came into their world. She must have been wrong though. There was very few other ways for Nick to have come into contact with drugs without her knowing, and her husband was sneaky enough to dodge the police so why not dodge her as well? She began to formulate a plan in her mind,
'Edward has risked the lives of my son for money, and he's been lying to me this whole time. What else has he been lying to me about?' She thought to herself, 'huh, maybe Isaac is in on this too, who knows at this point. But he is a danger to this family now so I must do something about this…'
Nick opened his eyes, the world around him was somewhat normal again. It felt like it had been years, like he had been out of reality for a lifetime. The purgatory he was once in still present in his mind. The walls had gone back to normal and everything felt as it should. He had come off of his high but in his mind he still felt like he was all alone, the reality that his parents or anyone he had loved never existed still fresh in his mind. It was just him in the small white room, and he deserved it for all that he had done in his life.
A knock at the door took Nick out of his stupor, a female snow leopard stepped in, closing the door gently behind her.
"Hello Nick, how are you feeling?" She said approaching the bed.
The sight of another mammal freighted the fox, especially because she was wearing white just like the walls around him. It was almost like she had come from the walls.
The doctor noticed his fear and took a step back. "It's alright Nick, you are in the hospital. My name is Dr. Winter, you don't have to be afraid" She said reassuringly.
Nick was still a bit hesitant, he was trying to figure out if the world around him was as it seemed.
"Are you real?" Was all that he could ask.
The doctor stopped and looked at the fox, thinking about what he had asked.
'He definitely suffered from the psychosis, it seems his perception of reality has been altered' she thought to herself.
"Yes Nick, I am real. What you're experiencing right now is the aftermath of a very bad drug overdose" she said hoping to bring Nick back to a realistic reality.
Memories of Nick consuming the LSD flashed through his mind, he could remember some of it but it all seemed fragmented. There were pieces of the puzzle that weren't fitting into place still,
"I don't know whats happening right now…" Nick said as tears began to come to his eyes, tears of fear. He simply wanted things to go back to the way they were before all of this happened.
The fact that everything seemed normal but yet also out of place and strange made Nick want his parents, specifically his mother. But to him, she never actually existed.
"It's alright Nick," the doctor said with care, "we're going to get you the help you need, but in the meantime there is a mammal here who really want to see you"
The leopard went to the door and called to something outside, she then backed away and held the door open for the mammal in question.
It was the greatest sight Nick had ever seen. A tall fox that Nick could easily recognize was standing in the door frame with tears in her eyes.
It was like a snap, at the sight of the fox Nicks mind clicked back into place (more or less).
"YOU DO EXIST!" Nick screamed getting out of the bed and running to his mother tears now flowing freely down his face. It felt like everything was going to be alright, like maybe his mind would stop playing games on him. But there were things still out of place…
"The doctor said that I would have lasting side-effects from the overdose, and that these side-effects were different for every mammal and that some may develop over time" Nick said pausing to think about all that he had told her.
The pause allowed the rabbit across from him a chance to breath and take it all in. The story had been intense and not what she was expecting, but it left her with many questions.
"What are the side-effects that you have?" She asked curiously.
Nick sat in silence as he collected his thoughts.
"Well at first there were visual things that would happen, like a certain shadow would appear, or some weird pattern in the light but they stopped after a few years. The one real bad one that I have now is a form of PTSD. If I'm ever reminded of something from my past then I get this weird attack where I have to step back as my mind is kind of flooded with these super surreal memories. They are rare but often debilitating, through some training though I have learned to control them most of the time" Nick said going through the primary problem, there were others, but this is the one that he couldn't always control.
"Most of the time?" Judy wondered out loud. Now they were getting into things that Nick didn't want to really divulge into at the moment. But for some reason the rabbits genuine curiosity made him want to open up to help her.
"Yes, sometimes I get really bad ones that basically give me panic attack. It breaks me down and then…" He started, just thinking about the last time it happened made Nicks heart rate pick up, "I haven't had one of those in years though. I had a minor one just the other day but I got through it nice and easy"
"Wow, have you ever had one while on a job?" Judy once again asked.
"Yes a few times, but they have all been minor ones that I worked around. I have not, and will not have a major one. Or at least if I have anything to say about it" Nick said knowing that Judy probably didn't feel very safe knowing that her bodyguard could internally combust at any moment.
"Listen Judy. You have my word that even if I do have something bad like that happen to me, that I will fight my ass off to get through it and make sure nothing happens to you. Got it?" Nick said leaning forward locking eyes with the rabbit across from him.
There was a spark, for just a moment, he could feel some connection between the two of them. But with a blink of the eyes, it was gone.
"Alright I believe you" Judy said with a gentle smile, "now what happened after you woke up and hugged your mom?"
"Well I was monitored by the hospital for a two more days after that. They ran me through tests to see if they could detect any of my side-effects. I went home after that and saw my dad and Isaac for the first time. My dad didn't say anything about the drugs that I had taken, but I could tell he knew what I had done. And then after that…" what happened after that was not up for discussion, or at least not yet. He didn't want to divulge into any of that ever, he wanted to keep it to himself for as long as he could.
"After that" Judy repeated hoping to bring back Nicks train of thought.
Nick closed his mouth and looked at the rabbit, "That is a story for a different time fluff" he said looking at the clock on the wall.
It read 10:30. It had been a long day and the story had taken up about three hours. With a yawn and a stretch Nick signaled that it was time for him to be going. He stood up from his chair and cracked his back, letting out a sigh after his spine had fully popped.
"It's getting late fluff, I think it would be best if I went back across the hall" He said closing his eyes to revel in his stretch. A small paw on his side took him out of his own world and brought him back to reality. He looked down to see the small rabbit now at his side, her paw resting on his arm.
"Thank you for telling me all that Nick. And if you ever need any help just know that I'm always across the hall. If you ever get a major attack and can't handle you can come over here. You have taken good care of me so allow me to do so in return" Judy said looking up into Nicks emerald eyes.
Once again there was a spark, as if something was happening. Both mammals could feel it, but didn't know what it was.
"Thanks fluff, although I can't promise you that I won't try and fix it on my own" Nick said kneeling down to be at an equal height to the rabbit.
"Now as far as my problem, I want to stop it, and I think I can but I'm going to really need your help" Judy said taking one of the fox's paw and holding it in her two smaller paws.
"Of course, I promised you I would help you just like the doctors helped me. And I am a mammal who keeps my promises" Nick said with a genuine smile. He was happy that his story telling wasn't in vain and had actually changed her mind on the drugs she was taking.
'Maybe I can fix this rabbit after all' he thought to himself.
The rabbit then pulled him into a hug, which Nick wasn't exactly expecting but he was beginning to get used to.
"Thank you Nick" she said.
Nick only squeezed the rabbit a little tighter in response.
The two mammals eventually released the hug and they parted ways. Nick watching as Judy shut the door, hearing the lock click once it was fully closed. He then let out a sigh as he thought about everything.
'Why the hell did I tell her that' he thought to himself, opening his own door and stepping inside.
'Because you know that it would help her understand, which it did' he heard a response in his head, that sounded a lot like the rabbit he had just talked to.
'Well yeah but I have never told anyone that story, not even Sheng. So what about this rabbit is different?' He thought to himself. Wondering what the rabbits voice would say in response.
It was like a new side effect, he rarely developed new ones but new changes in his life would bring out the new things in his head. And for some reason a part of his mind had decided to become his inner dialogue and made it sound a lot like Judy.
'You know exactly what is different about her' the voice sassed him.
His apartment was just as he left it, with his half eaten dinner still on the dining room table, now cold and definitely not good to eat. He took the time to clean the dishes while the voice in his head continued to speak.
'The way she looks, the way that she can grind your gears. No other mammal has been able to do that in just about ever. And you like it, she drives you crazy but you like it' the voice said to him.
He began to scrub the plate while an argument began to brew in his mind.
'I do not like it' he thought to himself.
'Oh yeah well if you don't like it so much then why haven't you quit yet?' Judy's voice asked.
'Well I- I don't really know, I ju-'
'And if you really didn't like the way she acted then why would you try and fix her?' She once again asked.
'I don't know I just think tha-'
'Oh yes and newest of all, if you didn't like her a little more then just a client, why would you tell her one of the deepest most secretive things that you have never told anyone?'
Nicks mind was silent for a few moments and his physical actions had stopped while he let the female voices words settle.
'Yup, just admit it Nick' she said one more time.
Nick dropped the plate in realization, causing it to clatter loudly in his sink.
"I'm falling in love with that rabbit"
Wow big reveal, but we all already knew that it was coming right? I hope you liked this chapter, it was a difficult one to write because this story of Nicks bad trip is actually based off a true story of my friends drug experience. He recalled the events of a few years ago when he had taken too much acid and it caused him to literally fear reality. The whole thing with the hospital and the thinking that no one outside of your view exists was a real thing that happened to my friends. From that experience he developed several side effects as well as a fear of the never ending. He is afraid of the concept of infinity, the thought of something having no end, and he got this fear from that experience with acid. He also had the whole light and shadow thing. My friend is good now and doing a lot better but it was a really interesting story that I think helps share the bad experiences that one can have from drugs.
I personally don't care if anyone does drugs, as long as you use them responsibly (but don't go taking meth or heroin or cocaine. Those can actually fuck you up).
Anyways, I once again hope you liked this chapter. There are definitely some more exciting things on the way, and now that school is almost over I will be hopefully uploading more frequently (but not promises).
Take it easy everyone, and go get vaccinated!
DAG