Chapter 14

Mordecai finished packing his bag and sat on the bed in his soon-to-be former room. An intense sadness washed over him as he looked over at Rigby's trampoline, which was piled high with dirty laundry just as he'd left it. All the memories of the good times they'd shared in this house came flooding back. Now, in the blink of an eye, he was being forced to leave everything he knew.

With a sigh of regret, Mordecai left the bedroom and started down the stairs. The house was quiet and seemed empty, but as he headed toward the front door he heard voices coming from Benson's office. He listened intently and made them out to be Benson and Skips. When he heard Rigby's name mentioned he inched closer to the door with heightened curiosity.

"How is Rigby today?" Benson asked.

"No change overnight." Skips said grimly. "I just hope he's the same if and when he wakes up."

"What do you mean?" Benson asked.

Skips shrugged. "I don't know—I'm not a doctor. He hit his head pretty hard though. He could have some brain damage. I hope it's not the case, but it's something we might want to prepare for. I didn't mention it to Mordecai though. No need to worry him even more without knowing something for sure."

Benson shook his head with understanding. "Well, keep me updated."

Skips nodded. "Benson, I want to talk to you about Mordecai."

"There's nothing to talk about. Mordecai is no longer an employee here. He's been asked to leave." Benson replied, donning his park manager persona once more.

"You can't throw him out on the street, Benson! He'll only get worse!" Skips argued heatedly.

"It's out of my hands, Skips! Mr. Maellard wants him fired and off the property. He's an adult. He can take care of himself! It's not our problem." Benson retorted.

Mordecai had heard enough. He felt nauseous again at the mere possibility that Rigby may suffer from brain damage by his hand and he certainly didn't have any desire to relive the discussion with Benson from earlier. He quickly backed out of the hallway where he stood eavesdropping and left the house.

Unbeknownst to Mordecai, the conversation between Benson and Skips was beginning to turn in his favor. "Do you really only see him as just an employee? " Skips questioned admonishingly. When Benson failed to respond, he added "Stop acting like a damn supervisor for a minute and think about what you're saying. Mordecai may be a slacker when it comes to doing his job, but he would do anything for a friend. You're just going to turn your back on him now after he's been there for us? He needs help."

"I know that, Skips! Of course I care. But I can't risk losing my job to cover for him! He needs to go check himself into rehab."

"You know he's not going to do that. He's convinced he can do this on his own, but he can't." Skips reasoned.

"What do you want me to do, Skips?" Benson asked with annoyance. He didn't appreciate Skips's guilt trip – especially since he knew the yeti was right.

"Look, he can stay with me. Give me a couple of months. I can help him get clean again."

There was a long pause as Benson considered Skip's request. "Okay. But I know nothing about this arrangement if anybody asks."

"Deal." Skips said, then promptly left the office. He climbed the steps to tell Mordecai the new development, but the bedroom stood empty when he got there. He sprinted down the steps and flung open the front door in an effort to catch up with him, but the blue jay was already gone.

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Mordecai stumbled out the front door, feeling shaky and ill. He had no idea where he was going, but he started down the dirt trail leading out of the park. Another wave of nausea soon hit him and he dropped his bag and doubled over behind some bushes to vomit again. He didn't know what was making him sicker—the detox or the emotional toll of everything that had happened over the past two days. Either way, he felt that death would be probably be a welcome relief at this point. When he felt well enough to continue, he stood up to see Muscle Man and High Fives coming down the path. He sighed with apprehension because he definitely did not want to deal with them right now.

"Hey, bro." Muscle Man called as they drew closer. "You don't look so good."

"I don't feel so good either." Mordecai wiped the perspiration off his brow.

"What the hell were you thinking, dude?" Muscle Man asked, skipping small talk and going straight to the heart of the matter.

"Just. Stop. Muscle Man." Mordecai face palmed with annoyance. "I seriously fucked up, okay? Can we just leave it at that? I don't want to talk about it."

"Okay bro, it's cool." Muscle Man shrugged. "What's with the bag?"

"Benson fired me and kicked me out."

"Harsh. He could have at least waited 'til your wing healed." Muscle Man motioned toward Mordecai's wing that was still bandaged from the hospital. "Talk about kicking a dude while he's down."

"I deserve it." Mordecai said miserably.

"So what are you gonna do, man?"

"I don't know, dude. I don't know…" Mordecai said distantly. "Can you loan me a few bucks?"

"Sure, bro." Muscle man took out his wallet and handed Mordecai a twenty dollar bill.

"How's Rigby today?" High Fives questioned.

"Same as yesterday. He's not doing too well." Suddenly, Mordecai felt his emotions welling up in the back of his throat with the mention of Rigby and didn't want to break down front of Muscle Man and Fives. "Look, I've gotta go. Maybe I'll see you guys around." He picked up his bag and began to walk off.

"Take care of yourself, bro." Muscle man said.

"Bye Mordecai." High Fives called.

Mordecai picked up his pace in an effort to distance himself from them as quickly as possible. He reached the gate and turned left toward the downtown section of the city. His mind raced with thoughts of what he was going to do and where he was going to go, but he kept drawing a blank. With no job and only twenty dollars in his pocket, he knew he wasn't going to get very far.

He considered calling his parents, whom he hadn't talked to in months. He had an okay relationship with them. It wasn't bad, but they weren't very close either. He knew his mom would do anything to help him out, but his dad wouldn't be so generous. His dad had always been the type that believed people had to live with their mistakes and figure things out on their own. He had been hard on Mordecai growing up and didn't mind showing his disappointment in his son when he messed up. That was the reason Mordecai left his hometown after making the choice to quit Art School and moved to the city with Rigby. He couldn't deal with his dad's constant belittlement of him over his decision. That, and the fact that his dad never really liked Rigby. He would always say that Mordecai had so much potential, but he let the raccoon's immaturity and laziness rub off on him and hold him back. He knew his dad loved him and only wanted the best, but thought he was a failure because he was merely a park groundskeeper instead of a college graduate. Calling him to tell him that he was now homeless and a drug addict would only confirm his father's opinion of him. Right now, it seemed that his dad was right.

Mordecai decided that there was no need to call his parents and ask for help because his dad would tell him to be a man and get himself out of this mess on his own. His mother wouldn't like doing nothing, but she would nevertheless go along with what her husband wanted. Then, he would have to hear the disappointment and heartbreak in their voices over what he'd done. Right now they were sweetly oblivious to any of it.

Deciding against his only real option left him with no other possibilities. Tomorrow, he would try to find a job. He didn't care what he had to do as long as it brought in some money. Right now, he needed rest. His wing was badly aching and he was feeling extremely unsteady and ill. He turned down a side street and went behind some buildings. He pressed his back to the brick wall and slid down to the ground, collapsing in anguish. Tears flowed freely as the realization sank in that he had nothing.

"You okay, kid?" A voice called from the shadows. Mordecai turned to see a man sitting by a dumpster surrounded by cardboard and plastic bags. He had a beard halfway down his chest and looked like he hadn't bathed in weeks. Mordecai hadn't noticed him there before. The man sipped from a bottle covered with a brown paper bag.

"I'm fine." Mordecai lied, wiping the tears off his cheeks.

"Doesn't look like it."

"I'm having a bad day, dude." Mordecai replied.

"I know what you mean. I've been having a bad day since 1997." The man said.

"What happened to you?" Mordecai asked.

"Lost my job 'cause I couldn't stop snorting coke. I had a wife and baby girl, but they left after I got fired. She said that I was a pathetic loser and I was letting the drugs control my life. I guess she was right. I haven't seen either of them since that day. The sad part is that I got off the drugs because no money buys nothing, you know? But I still don't have anything 'cause once you hit the bottom, it's hard to climb back up. I've just been living free, going from here to there ever since. Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose, you know?"

"Sorry, dude." Mordecai looked at the man and saw his future.

"It's not so bad – you get used to it. You look like a good kid though. I don't know your story, but you still have time to change it. Don't just accept whatever brought you to this alley like I did."

"Thanks." Mordecai muttered, then picked up his bag and walked off. Hearing the bum's story brought a fresh wave of tears to his eyes for he could easily see himself sitting next to that dumpster twenty years from now. He went around the corner to shed some more tears about the situation in private.

"Get it together" he finally told himself. He allowed himself a brief moment of self-pity, but now it was time to be strong again. He was determined heed the homeless man's advice and change his story. He was going get through this. He vowed to beat the odds and get back on his feet, regardless of how hopeless things looked at the moment. Besides, he needed to be there for Rigby. If Rigby was able he would be here for him. Together they would figure out a way to get through this as soon as Rigby got better.

The sun was starting to set and it looked as if a line of storms was moving in with the twilight. Mordecai could hear thunder off in the distance. He looked around for a possible shelter, but didn't see anything promising. With a sigh, he got up and turned back toward the direction of the park. The picnic shelters there would keep him out of the elements, despite his desire to avoid the place.

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