It was seven in the morning, when Hank woke up from his peaceful, unexpected sleep. He needed some time to find out that he was lying on Emily's couch and a little more time to remember why. Relieved that it wasn't a result of an argument, he got up to the bathroom to take a shower and brush his teeth.
The door opened and he saw Emily in the mirror. She stood behind him and hugged him, resting her head on his bare back. He cleaned his mouth and turned around to kiss her long and gently. "Good morning, sunshine."
She giggled. "Sunshine? The last time someone called me that was way back, when I was 7 and an old man moved in with his son in our neighborhood."
"Really?" He grinned.
"Yes." She stared in his eyes. "I never cared about that nickname, when I got older. But I think... no, I know, I like hearing it from this handsome doctor that I met a while ago. I really have a crush on him, you know?"
"So? Why didn't you tell me earlier? I wasn't aware of a competition. But I think I will stand my man and fight for you. I'm not ready to let you go with him." He tried to sound serious, but couldn't stop smiling.
"Good, I wouldn't want it any other way." She kissed him and helped him out of his pants and then Hank showered a second time, but it took him much longer than before, because the woman in his arms just gave him many reasons to forget the time. He wasn't aware of what was going on a few minutes drive from him.
Evan woke up a bit earlier than his brother, though he had a rough night. Problem was, he didn't remember how he has gotten to his bed after falling on the floor in front of the couch attempting to get painkillers. Maybe it was too much to say he woke up. He got closer to consciousness, when whatever was left in his stomach found it's way out off his mouth. It was just in time to have the mess on the floor and not in his bed or on his t-shirt...I don't wear it anymore, but where is it? He tried to look around to find it, what wasn't easy with eyes that have decided to just not stay open. Funny, fighting my own eyes...spooky... Spooky? Really, Evan? Dude, never again X-files.
He decided that it wasn't that important for him to have the shirt yet. Considering his body odor, he decided it was time for a shower. He couldn't even remember when he had one the last time. That's so not like me! I'm Mr. Shower, do it as often as I can, several times a day... well, would if my brother wouldn't be all doctor on me and telling me that too much showering wasn't doing any good. I don't even know why I'm doing it, but Hank said I started when Mom got sick.
Evan managed to sit up, his feet on the floor. Dizziness caused him to close his eyes again and stop any kind of movement. The room didn't stop spinning, but it slowed down enough for him to get off the bed and make a small step. Nausea and dizziness took over for a few moments, but he came through without any problems.
After a few small steps more the dizziness came back so bad, that he tried to make one big step to lean on the near door. Something was in his way and he tripped. His hands were in front of him to keep him from falling. So not a good idea. He fell anyway, bumped his head on the door and his left wrist sent pain through his arm. Note to myself, don't use your hands to prevent or ease a fall. He thought that someone has taught him this a long time ago, but truth to be told... if he didn't remember last night, nobody could expect him to remember stuff that was ages ago.
He realized that there was more pain than just the one in his wrist and arm. There was pain in his head, his butt, his legs, his back... well, to keep it short: There was no part of his body free of pain, well, his toes maybe... But why did he trip in the first place? He scanned the surroundings. Two bottles were lying not far from him. What the fuck?! Why are they here and hell, when did I drink them? Wine and Whiskey? I didn't have a drink since... when? Dunno. Hadn't even a wine to my food lately.
He couldn't think any further, he had to throw up again, violently, several times in a row without time to take a breath between the waves. He was exhausted. Pain made him scream. The last thing he knew was that there was this heavy alcohol smell near him. Not from the bottles. Realization was a shock. The alcohol was in his vomit. No! Didn't Dad drink and forget what happened all the time? Don't let me be like Dad! Hank was right. Hank hates Dad! That makes him hate me, too, right? Oh, I hurt so bad, my family hates me, anybody hates me – I myself hate me most... please, just let me die! Just let me fall asleep and never wake up again! When the darkness took over, there was a very short moment of hope that his suffering would really end.
He wasn't out for long. Pain in the kidney area brought him back to consciousness much faster than one could wish for. Shit! Pain is gonna kill me! Means I'm not dead yet, huh? Evan closed his eyes for a moment and then tried to get up without any success, of course. At least he managed to get on his knees. He pushed the bottles out of his way. Raised his arm to open the door and crawled on all fours to the bathroom. That's so embarrassing. And there I was shaking my head about the video of a drunken David Hasselhoff.
It took him a couple of minutes and two short breaks to end up in front of the toilet. He really needed to pee, so he tried to get out of his shorts just to figure out a second later that he didn't wear any. When did I start sleeping without them? Now, that's a good question... please, why not think about such silly stuff? Who would want to know, when one started to drink too much? Yeah, who?
He pushed those thoughts away and tried to get himself seated on the toilet. He was almost sitting, when he got dizzy and fell back to the floor. Convulsions started in his legs. Soon they took over his body. He tried to scream in pain, but all he got out was: "Nnnnnnnnhhhhhnnnn"
When the seizure finally ceased, he felt a warm liquid on his upper thighs. Oh God! What else? Tears filled his eyes and ran down his cheeks, not many, but the few there were came from a pain deep in his heart.
He soon decided that he would have to do something to feel human and in control again. So he just crawled a bit further and managed to get into the shower. That was good, but took a lot of energy out of him. He paused for few minutes and then tried to get on his feet. It didn't work out the way he wanted, but he wasn't ready to give up. His hands grabbed the handle and he pulled himself up. Ok, that's gonna be tough. A single move with his hand and the water came down on him, soon just the right temperature to calm him a bit.
Washing himself wasn't easy at all. He couldn't reach most parts of his body, not without risking to fall again and he knew that wouldn't be a good thing. But he let the water run down on him for long enough to feel clean. He turned the water off and started to dry his body as good as he could.
Evan knew that he couldn't make it to his room walking. So he got to his knees and was glad the pain wasn't followed by dizziness or nausea. He felt somewhat better than earlier and managed to make the way with only one short break. Everything went well until he came in his room and smelled the mixture of vomit, sweat and alcohol. It gave him a hard time to suppress the urge of throwing up again. Man, this is just disgusting! I'm disgusting! Oh, Evan R. Lawson, how could you let yourself falling so deep.
He thought about what to do first. Plans made, he crawled to the wardrobe to get dressed first. The shorts weren't a big problem, because he had them just in the drawer in front of him. He felt already more human now with some pants on. He got a grip on one of the shelves and pulled himself up, groaning in pain. His hands reached one off his shirts just in time before his legs let him down and he fell on the floor. A new wave of pain flooded his body drawing a scream from his lips. He couldn't focus anymore and felt unconsciousness coming back.
At the very same moment the door to the house opened and Dr. Hank Lawson came home from his first patient, checking in to see how his brother was doing. He heard the loud noise, saw his brothers phone on the floor and realized a second later that the noise was his brother screaming. He obviously was in a lot of pain. "Evan!" He sprinted to his brothers room.
Okay, dear readers, chapter 13 has been formed in the last five minutes while I was typing the last few sentences to this one, so it can't be long till it's up here. Has Evan suffered enough now? Well, he sure has, but will it end soon? Who knows... Isn't it time for Hank to find out what's really wrong with his brother? And what will it do to him or to their relationship? Can he help his baby brother or will there even be hate like Evan thought? Maybe Eddie can tell us more about it. I guess we just have to wait and find out what the characters are up to.