Chapter Title: Death Sticks
Series Title: Unlikely Brothers
POV: Colton
Ages in this chapter: Tanner (13) Dashen (19)
Chapter Summary: Tanner has a run in with a dose of Death Sticks.
"What exactly are you doing at this moment?"
"Colt, hey! I am on the receiving end of a full body massage if you must know. Although I'm not sure why you must. It's really none of your business."
"Damn it, you idiot, get your tail home now."
"What? I told Tanner I'd be home in the morning. It's just now morning. What's the big deal?"
"The big deal is that he's here and you are not. And the version of him that is here is not the same version that left here last night."
There was a pause on the comm. The idiot was thinking things over, trying to comprehend what I'd just said and what it meant. Sure I was the kid's sort of boss and sort of landlord and sort of helped keep him and his brother out of hot water, but I did have a life and a business of my own to run. I didn't have time to spend babysitting these two. One idiot was enough and if the other was following in those same footsteps, what can I say? Not my fault.
When there was no response on the other end, I reached for my calm-yet-royally ticked off voice. "For the last hour, your brother is here alternating between hallucinations and puking his guts
out and do you want to know why? Well, I will tell you why. Because, evidently, he's as much of an idiot as you are. Say
your goodbyes to that your lady friend, Jayla, and get home
now. I told you to stop seeing her anyway. She works for Rosina, remember? My direct competition? They're encroaching my territory with a little aiding and abetting from you, thank you very much. Who knows, they might be responsible for Tannerlin's condition. I put nothing past anyone at this point, including drugging your brother."
"Tanner was drugged?"
"Or he drugged himself. Death sticks. A high-potency dose from what Quin says."
"He was home last night, how…"
"No, he went to dinner with a couple of school friends. Probably got curious and landed at the bar, things happen and there you go; one sick kid."
"Tanner doesn't drink, Colt. Won't touch the stuff, you know that. Why would he have gone into the bar?"
"You can ask him while he pukes on your feet. Now shut up and get the hell back here! Now!"
—-
I smacked Dashen in the back of the head when he finally arrived and pushed him into his brother's bedroom. "This is your fault, at least partially. Look after him."
"It's not my…" he stopped mid-sentence, saw the boy miserable on the bed and finished with, "Oh, crap." I'll give him credit, there was no time wasted in jumping to his brother's aid. In fact, thirty seconds after arriving bedside, he had the basin at Tannerlin's face and holding him steady as the kid puked into it.
"Forty-eight hours of this, Dash. I'm certain you remember."
He did. Unlike Tannerlin, who I was confident did not do this to himself, Dashen had done this to himself. On purpose. Years ago, and not long after his brother Kossi died. Once the side effects of the high dose death sticks kicked in, it was apparently life and death to see which would win the battle for the boy's soul. Life won out and I know for a fact that it had not been the outcome Dashen wished for. We were not anything approaching friends at the time and after much thought, I figured it best to leave him to himself immediately after. A mistake on my part. One that I regret.
—-
I left for a bit and when I returned two hours later, Dashen was sitting on the bed with Tannerlin half pulled into his lap, leaning against his chest as the older brother soaked a cool rag onto the boy's forehead. The bucket was on the floor, but close.
"How's he doing, Dash?"
Glancing up at me through long black bangs, those sharp green eyes of Dashen Lesedi held tight to several emotions. The predominant one was guilt. Although this really wasn't his fault, I'd hurled some of the guilt onto him to move him to action. Rosina wasn't to blame either; I'd only said that out of frustration. She was many things, but she drew the line at harming children. Right now we didn't know who had done this to Tannerlin. Dash was right. The kid wasn't a drinker or drug user and certainly was not a frequenter of bars or cantinas.
Did one of his friends do this? Was it just someone playing bar games? Was this on purpose? An accident? I couldn't tell.
But I could find out.
His green eyes fell away from my gaze by the time Dashen finally responded to my question. "Sick and sick and sick. I think sick about covers it."
"He looks semi lucid."
"If a bit off-center and loopy. Keeps calling me Master Ayden and talking about training exercises. Babbled about Ben Kenobi too. Oh and those evil little Jawa things we ran into on Tatooine. Just the thought of those things gives me the creeps." He shivered slightly but kept his attention on his brother. "Wish I knew how this happened. He's thirteen and teenagers will experiment, but no way did Tanner do this to himself. I'd bet my life on that one. Wonder if any of his so-called friends are in similar conditions."
I shrugged. "No idea. Not even sure how he got home. Someone banged at the door early this morning, by the time I got to it, whoever it was, they were long gone and the kid was laying there all fetal-like and vomiting on my front porch. My security footage just showed someone dressed in a black hood. Had the build of a male, but beyond that…I've got nothing."
"Nothing, but we can figure it out, right?"
My head tilted to the side, "Well…I'm sure a bit of recognizance would turn up something. Kebrey may have." Kebrey Pacus, manager/bouncer at my bar and former security of mine. "He sees a lot. I'll check with him. But you? Stay. There's more puke to be had."
There was. And there it came. Unfortunately, Dashen wasn't quick enough with the bucket and there ended up a lovely, chunky layer of…never mind. It was disgusting and it was all over Dashen and the bed. It appeared the investigation would have to wait. A bed change, clothes change and probably a bath was in order. No...scratch that. Not probably. Definitely.
Dashen cursed lightly at himself for not being fast with the basin, but I was the one to set him in motion next. "You and he are both repulsive. Lucid or not, that's revolting and putrid. I'll change the bed sheets. You and the kid…bathroom now. Get him in the tub. Might help him not to feel so horribly miserable."
—-
I wasn't a father. Never wanted to be. Never needed to be. But since these two had come into my life, I couldn't help but feel some of what it must be like to be one. Certainly there was no toilet-training or learning first words, but after four years of these boys being in my life, part of me thought of them more as sons than anything. They had each come with adult issues at very young ages, but determined nevertheless. That determination was on display again in the bathroom with Dashen's attempt to get his brother into the tub without soaking himself in the process. He tried. He failed. Determined yes, but Dashen was once an idiot, always an idiot. Even at the age of nineteen.
I pushed in and lifted Dashen from the marbled floor where he'd fallen onto his rear after splashing half the room with bathwater.
"He's not that heavy, Dash, what's the problem?"
"Not heavy, but he's squirmy and was puking things up again. I was trying to avoid being a bulls-eye."
"Does it really matter at this point? Look at you. Or better yet, smell you." I tossed him a towel.
"This is not how my morning was supposed to go. Colt. I've got a big-money run to make today for Grunley."
Shaking my head, I said, "No, you don't. I know your schedule. I've already sent another runner. Grunley is aware. He sends his regards for your brother." Criminal or not, (and trust me, I knew criminal, being one myself) Grunley was a good man when it came to people that did well by him. Dash wouldn't lose out on future jobs for the man simply because he had to take a time out for sickly family.
Dash nodded his head in thanks; dark, damp hair falling forward to hide his green eyes before he reached soapy hands to pull the hair back into a ponytail. The better to see his brother with as he washed him from head to toe. Several times, Tannerlin tried to vomit again, but the kid had nothing left. Other times, he wandered into his past, wishing he were home at the Jedi Temple, wishing his entire everything hadn't been wiped off the face of the galaxy. I sat tub-side in a small chair, making sure that the hallucinations didn't eat into Dash.
"It's the drug, Dash. You know how much he loves you. It's just making him miss what he lost."
"Yeah, yeah, I know. Been there, done that too, Colt."
My comm buzzed. Kebrey. Former security. Now managed the bar I owned in the heart of Koalin. I'd placed a quick call to him right before coming into help Dash in the bathroom.
"Keb, you got something already?" Our conversation was short and informative and I clicked off the comm and said to the older boy, "Yes, trouble at the bar last night. I guess Tannerlin had gone from the restaurant into the bar in order to find one of his friends who had gotten curious. They then ran into a pack of older problematic kids who pushed them around, quick-doped them and disappeared. Security footage here at the house, the black-hooded someone who dropped Tannerlin on the front porch was a new bouncer working that particular shift. One who is apparently scared of me for some reason. Go figure. But he made sure the kid got home and then took off. The other boy got home as well. Kebrey will make sure his folks know that their son was the victim of a prank. So, there might be a few heads rolling pretty damned soon."
"You find the kids that did this, I'd like to be the one to roll their heads."
"Don't think so, Dash. Your nose is clean to the general public and needs to remain so. I'll take care of this. I'm not one to appreciate when someone hurts those I consider family."
Family. I'd said it out loud. Dash hadn't flinched. He'd always known that under my criminally minded exterior that there was a sucker in here that cared about he and his brother. Hell, he'd be foolish to think otherwise. Only I would have the patience to deal with the both of them and their idiotic ways. Always getting into trouble. Always bringing trouble home. Always making me worry when I had every right not to be that way.
They were my family. And you didn't mess with my family.
A moan from the tub brought me back. Tannerlin had his eyes open, sort of. Pale brown but edged in blood-red. The typical red of one suffering from a high, but non-lethal dose of death sticks. I felt for the kid. I hoped the best for his friend who I was
certain was in a similar condition. The bubbles of the bath were beginning to fade as Tannerlin reached an absent hand out of the water to try and pop them, before losing thought and letting his head fall sideways. Dashen caught it just before it whacked into the side of the tub.
"Time's up, Mouse." Dashen told him. "Let's get you out and into a warm bed, huh?"
The younger boy didn't respond much other than with a 'hmm.' He'd feel the effects of this for the next two days. The kid may never have experienced a hangover before, but the day after death sticks was a day you'd like to forget. And one you'd never want to live through again.
Tannerlin, dry and warm in sleep clothes, I led the pair to his bedroom where Dashen made him comfortable. As he went to leave, I pushed a hand into his chest. "Uh uh. You stay. I know you remember the immediate after-effects of sticks. Well, beyond the vomit, I mean. He'll be confused and likely to do something stupid if he manages to get up and wander around. Your job, not mine, to keep him sane."
"But I stink."
Taking a quick whiff, "Right. You do. Okay. Ten minutes. Shower and be done. Then you've got your project for the rest of the day and overnight."
Dashen showered. I sat with the boy, watching him. Wondering what the hell I'd gotten myself into those four years ago. And why. I had no answers then, I had no answers now. It all just happened. One of Tannerlin's small hands began flailing around so I gently lowered it back to his side, but his fingers grabbed hold of my own hand before I could move away. Damn it. I'd told myself in the beginning that I wouldn't get close to these two. I was just helping them out of trouble...at the time. Getting them on their feet. Giving them a chance to find themselves and their own lives.
And now, here it was...family.
I smiled at the fingers holding desperate to mine. I didn't pull away even when Dash returned (smelling so much better) from the shower. This was it, he saw his brother's hand holding tight to mine and me not letting go. His chance to mock me, joke, say something in his annoyingly smart ass way.
He didn't. He only grinned and sat on the opposite side of the bed, taking Tannerlin's other hand.
I suppose for a pair that had absolutely nothing in common, we had this one thing.
I finally stood and the small fingers drifted away. "He's all yours, Dash. I've got work to finish. You've got a brother to support."
Tannerlin's hand immediately found his brother's and the older settled in.
"I remember, you know," Dashen started before I managed to escape the room, "that feeling the death sticks gave me at first. I felt...good. Hopeful. Hopeful that all my unbearable pain was about to be taken away. Permanently."
"Yeah, they do that. For a short time."
"And then living through what I had thought - hoped - would kill me, that just made it ten times harder afterwards. Like I was destined forever to live with and be haunted by Kossi's death."
Ouch. A stab to the heart. I'd just about dropped all thought of Dashen for a few months after his suicide attempt. I still regret that to this day, but this confession now? Not pleasant to my own memory.
"I stumbled through it I guess," he went on. "Screwed things up. Irritated a lot of people. Demoralized myself and the memory of my little brother. I was a real piece of work." Now he looked
down at Tannerlin. "Hard to believe all of that was...so long ago. Sometimes it still feels like yesterday."
I took pity on him, choosing to not call him an idiot anymore today, while also trying to be helpful. "And look at you now. You weren't destined to die at the hand of those sticks because things were happening in other places that led to this kid." I pointed to Tannerlin. "This kid that would need you. You just didn't know it at the time. Don't harp too much on your past, Dashen. We all have things we'd like to forget or things we want so desperately to have back. Play the deck you're given and play it as best you can." Another gesture toward the young one currently feeling the effects of those same death sticks that Dashen intentionally abused years ago. "That's your deck. Look after him. I'll see you later."
He nodded and sent me on my way. I did have work to do. My feelers were already out for those who had done this to Tannerlin. There was hell to pay. If it had indeed been those troublesome older kids responsible for the sticks, I had lines I did not cross. Most lines involved stopping short of physically harming those underage or those too stupid to know better. And if they did know better, that line, although still there, didn't prevent me from scaring the living hell out of them instead.
Let the fun begin.
END
