Chapter Five: Withdrawal of a different kind

The rest of Sunday went on as a very stressful day for Sugoroku. Yugi would randomly become suspicious on the old man, but then forget why after his grandfather explained his way out of it. Then hours later, Yugi would remember what happened and feel terrible about it. Sugoroku noticed he was talking to Yami less and less, and Yugi truly wasn't talking to him all that much. Mostly because he wasn't answering as much as he used to.

Sugoroku put a sedative in Yugi's soda at dinner, because the doctor had told him to bring him in asleep. Something about being sure the split personality was gone as well as putting Yugi under less stress.

At about five in the morning, Yugi woke up briefly, to what he thought were sobs. He tried to get up, but he felt as though something was keeping him from opening his eyes, so he surrendered himself to sleep. It was about that time that Sugoroku piled him into a car and brought him to the psychiatrist's office. Upon arrival Dr. Tenoh had him strapped to a bed and told Sugoroku to leave the room. He said that Yugi didn't need any more stress than what he was going to face in the morning.

At about seven, the doctor's assistants rang a bell and woke Yugi up. He couldn't open his eyes immediately, but soon did to see that he was strapped to the bed. He blinked with wide eyes, trying to talk but not being able to find the words.

Suddenly screaming he yelled for help. "Who did this to me?" he asked quietly. "Where am I? Why did you strap me to this bed? Why me? Why am I here? Where are my friends? Where's my grandpa?" he paused, "Where's Yami? Yami. Yami? Answer me!"

He pulled on the restraints unable to free himself. "Yami, come out and help me," he whispered, "You know you're stronger than me! Oh, I know, you don't want me to talk out loud, that's why you aren't answering me." He shut his eyes as tightly as he could. His whole little face was wrinkled with the force on which he was exerting. A tear escaped his eye. "Why won't you answer me?" he asked in a voice, barely audible. "Why?"

The doctor looked at Sugoroku's tearstained face. "It's time for us to tell him. No need for him to suffer anymore."

Sugoroku stared blankly, "This won't work." He whispered.

Dr. Tenoh looked at him. "You say something?"

"Oh, no, nothing," Yugi's grandpa replied and followed the doctor.

Yugi had slumped in the restraints, ceasing to fight at all. He was miserable and tired from the twenty-minute struggle. The door creaked open, but he didn't move for a few seconds. After hearing some footsteps, he gazed upwards to see his grandfather and that quack of a psychiatrist staring down at him.

"Where am I?" he asked timidly.

"In my office," the doctor replied.

"Why?"

"Because," Sugoroku began, "We have cured you of your disease."

"What are you talking ab... Wait. No. You didn't, did you?" Yugi gasped. "You couldn't, could you? You WOULDN'T! Grandpa, tell me you didn't really spike my drink!"

The old man looked down.

"Tell me, grandpa, tell us! I know you could never do that to me. You've NEVER lied to me, right grandpa. Right! Right? Tell us!"

Sugoroku spoke slowly, "I put something in you drink that would cure you of your sickness. You are well now, Yugi. You're normal again."

Yugi looked to the doctor. "You put him up to it, didn't you? Grandpa'd never do anything like that without being coerced into it! And anyway," he looked down, "What's so wrong about being different." Even with all of his emotions swimming inside of him, Yugi was smart enough to know that the first thing he needed to do was get out of the restraints. He attempted to dry his eyes with his hands but could move them. It was a motion the doctor knew and he undid the ties on the bed.

In that instant Yugi leapt from the bed and grabbed the doctor. "Tell me how to get him back!" he shouted. "Tell me how to undo the medication!"

"Yugi!" his grandpa scolded, "Let go of him this instant."

The doctor grinned evilly, "He's never coming back! You know that, never! And you wanna know something, I hate all you FREAKS!" he threw Yugi to the floor and stormed out of the room laughing hysterically.

Yugi turned to Sugoroku, but outside of the room, two police officers walked up to Dr. Tenoh.

"Are you Doctor Aku Tenoh?"

"Yeah, who's asking."

"Dr. Tenoh, you are under arrest for malpractice, you have the right to remain silent."

"What the hell?" the doctor asked.

"You've apparently been using drugs the FDA hasn't approved, including one that is highly dangerous when mixed whit any other OTC drug and can cause serious, permanent brain damage."

"Oh, my crazy-be-gone pill?" the doctor asked. "You know how much help it causes? Whackos are normal again, thanks to me!"

"Try and tell that to the Bakura family. That drug you gave their kid screwed him up so bad, he'll be strapped to a gurney for the rest of his natural life!" a cop yelled.

The other one looked at him. "That's enough, let's just get him out of here." The two dragged him out of the office.

Meanwhile in the secluded room, Yugi was pacing back and forth talking to his grandfather in an icy cold voice. "So, you did this on your own, you say. He didn't convince you?"

"No, I made up my mind."

"That makes it even worse, grandpa! How could you? You're a... you're a murderer!"

"Yugi, Yami wasn't real."

"He was to me, you MURDERER! You just took him from me so I could be 'normal' right? So I wouldn't be some weird-o! Right? Because YOU didn't wanna be known as the guy who raised the SCREWED UP KID, RIGHT?! You are one sick fuck! One sick, sad excuse for a man who would tear a child apart just to be considered a good parent! I hope you pay for this mistake, I do. But you know the best thing about it, don't you?" He walked over to his grandfather and put both of his arms across the old man's neck. He continued his speech in slow thoughtful words as Sugoroku gasped for air. "Besides the fact that it's hard to kill a pharaoh, anyone who attempts to..." he watched his grandfather squirm under his arms, "gets cursed."

He released his grip on his grandfather and sat on the bed that had once restrained him. His listened to the old man cough in the corner and he started to feel guilty. Not about what he had done to his grandfather, no that didn't matter at all. It was because he'd never speak to Yami again and his last words were a guarantee, "We'll talk later." He felt as though he was braking a promise to his dark and it ripped him up inside.

"Look, Yugi, I'm sorry, but you'll see it was for your own good."

Yugi scowled at him, but didn't say anything.

"Well, then, let's go."

Yugi followed him out of the building and looked down the road to see a police car driving away. He shrugged as he got into the car.

"Sugoroku," he said. "Some day, some how, you will pay for what you have done to Yami. You are not my grandfather anymore, and I will pick and choose what I will do from now on, be it a request from you or anyone else. I hope you know what a fool you are."

He refused to speak to his grandfather again. For the whole ride home, he sat stroking his Millennium Puzzle, thinking. By the end of the ride home, he had come up with an idea. Upon arriving at home, he went upstairs and slammed a door shut. Minutes later, he slammed a separate one.

A few hours later, Sugoroku went upstairs and into the bathroom. On the floor he saw an empty bottle of Acetaminophen. He thought it was odd but shrugged it off, he had had a headache just yesterday and took the generic form of Tylenol, himself. He must have just dropped the bottle. Looking in the trash he saw a discarded bottle of Advil as well. He thought hard, but then saw the safety wrapper in the can, too. He knew then that there was a problem, because that was a new bottle.

He thought for a moment until realization dawned on him. "Yugi," he whispered and ran to the boy's room. He slammed open the door to find Yugi lying face first on the carpeted floor, pen and paper in hand, with what was the start of a letter.

Sugoroku ran to his side immediately and tried to wake the boy up, but he wouldn't budge. He called an ambulance and looked at the sheet of paper in Yugi's hand. "You killed him, now I can be with him. I hope yo-" was written, a line trailed off the paper, apparently from when he collapsed.

The man who was sending the ambulance said to induce vomiting, but the old man couldn't get him to.

A medic burst into the room. "His pulse is weak. I don't know if he'll be able to hold on."

Yugi was lifted into the ambulance; fate uncertain as Sugoroku could do nothing but watch.

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Jinu