Author's Note: This would be Miss Finn, again. I hoped that you liked my last chapter (which was Chapter 2: Losing It), and have also enjoyed reading Mr. Ghost's stories. This chapter will increase in intensity, so if you were scared of the others, I recommend, (Mr. Ghost nodding vigorously behind me), not to read this story because you may suffer offense—though I don't know why, unless you are/were either/and anorexic/bulimic/a crummy athlete/in love with Cody Martin and do not want to see him suffer pain/in love with Zack Martin and do not want to see him suffer pain/in love with Carey Martin and do not want to see her suffer pain/in love with Tapeworm and do not want to see him suffer pain/are sensitive to hotdogs, for they shall appear often/get sick when you read the word "puke"/blood makes you sick/do not enjoy the use of LEGO's to open locked doors/own Ipecac and do not wish to see it portrayed in such a disturbing manner/hate all of the characters above and do not wish to learn about them/are preoccupied with your own problems and do not have time to read about others. If you were not offended in any way by the last chapters, by all means, read it and review for more, because Mr. Ghost lives off reviews. I, on the other hand, do not.

-Miss Finn

Chapter Four: Overdose

He locked the door behind him, and sat down on the tile.

"Cody?" his mom called. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, just a stomachache," he told her.

"Well, come out and have a snack later, ok honey?"

"Yeah," Cody called back, thinking of how good a snack would be right now. He glanced at the bottle in his hand, and threw the bag off to the side. Ipecac, huh? Well, work your wonders for me.

He twisted the cap off and ripped off the silvery seal. Inside were a bunch of tablets. Ok…

Taking one, he put it into his mouth, not bothering to read the instructions. It didn't really matter, did it? Throwing up was throwing up.

He swallowed the pill, trying to ignore the scratchy feeling it made in the back of his throat. He leaned over the toilet and waited. After five minutes, still nothing had happened. Cody took another tablet and swallowed. He waited again, and decided to take another one.

He leaned over the toilet bowl and waited. Still, nothing happened. Cody considered taking another one, but all the sudden the medicine hit. He barely had time to get his head above the toilet when he started vomiting. He couldn't stop.

The contents of his stomach just kept coming up—the Coke, the candy bar, the pasta that he hadn't managed to puke up yesterday. He puked and even when he tears started to form in his eyes and run down his cheeks he couldn't stop. He threw up everything, and then there came the blood. Red swirls of blood everywhere—his insides were burning but he couldn't stop himself. Blood hit the ground and Cody felt his stomach turn over, as he continued to vomit. He fell to the floor, his head colliding with the tile and the bottle of Ipecac falling from his hand, a few tablets falling out.

Cody was glad for the darkness when he passed out.

---

"Zack?" asked a worried Carey. "Go check on your brother, would you?"

Moaning lazily, Zack rolled his eyes. What could Cody be doing in the bathroom, for God's sakes? He stomped over to the bathroom door and knocked on it. "Cody?"

There was no answer.

"Cody?" he tried again, his voice a little louder. Maybe Cody hadn't heard him. "Cody, are you ok?"

Still nothing.

"CODY?" Zack raised his voice to an extremely high level. His brother couldn't miss it now. "CODY, ARE YOU OK?"

Carey looked up worriedly.

Zack heard a strangled moan followed by a sickening thud. "CODY, OPEN THE DOOR!"

There was no answer.

"CODY!"

Zack tried to open the door but it was locked. He thought about knocking the door down, but then he had a better idea. Getting a LEGO piece he had always used to pick locks from his pocket, he slid it into the door hole and the door popped open.

What he saw froze him in his tracks. Cody was laying there, in a puddle of his own blood, a bottle of pills on the ground next to him.

Zack heard someone scream, and looked around to see who was screaming so loudly. Before he crumpled to his knees and passed out, he realized it was himself.

---

Zack woke up shaking when he realized his head was covered in icy water. "Wha-?"

Carey was standing over him with a worried expression on her face, tears running down her face. "I'm sorry Zack, but I need your help with Cody."

Everything came rushing back to him. He'd opened the door. Cody had been there. There had been blood.

OH MY GOD IS HE DEAD?

Carey was in the bathroom by the time Zack managed to get control of himself.

"What has he been doing?" asked Carey. "What's wrong with him?"

Zack picked up the small bottle from the floor. "Ipecac. Vomiting aid."

"Why would Cody be using a vomiting aid?" Carey's voice was filled with shock.

Zack looked at her, concerned for his mother who was shaking. "He said he wanted to become an athlete. I guess I hurt him. He thought he needed to do it. Mom… it's my fault."

---

Carey didn't have time to be angry with Zack, or to be shocked, or to cry anymore. She had to get Cody somewhere where he could be helped.

"Zack!" she cried. "911! Now!" Zack rushed out of the bathroom, his heart beating wildly. The mess he had seen in the toilet normally would've made him nauseous, and it probably did, but everything else was doubling the feeling. He could feel Cody within him. Cody, lingering on the edge of insanity, of madness, of death.

Zack had to redial 911 three times because his hand was shaking so much. When he finally got through, he could barely find his voice.

"911 emergency."

"My… my… he… blood…"

"Sir, could you please calm down?" the emergency operator said.

Finally Zack found his voice and spilled it all in one breath. "My twin brother wanted to become an athlete so he must've started crash dieting or something and he got Ipecac and he ate something so he came back home and took a bunch of the stupid pills and he threw up blood and now he's unconscious!" He breathed heavily to the silence at the other end of the phone, realizing his eyes were watering with worry.

"Young man, where do you live?"

"At the Tipton Hotel, 23rd floor, please just send an ambulance!" Zack started blubbering as his tears spilled over. "Oh God Cody, please be okay…" he whispered. The operator must've heard it and began working faster.

"Don't worry, an ambulance will be there right away," she said.

And the friendly conversation had ended just like that.

"The operator said an ambulance was coming right away," Zack managed to say when he returned to his frantic mother.

Carey was holding her frail, unconscious son in her arms, silently praying as tears streamed down her face.

Finally she muttered, "I can't believe this." Zack looked up, shaking.

"Neither can I."

Author's Note: This is Sketchy. Finn has been having a lot of her time taken up with school, so I took the task of finishing this chapter. Pretty much the entire second half was by me. So, reviews from this chapter can be directed at either of us - or both for that matter. Just review please.