by Quil Carter
“Thank–” Ben looked down and stopped mid-sentence; he stared at the outstretched hand, more specifically the ring the man had on his finger, and felt his breath catch in his throat.
“T-that ring…” The emotion in his voice rose as Ben spoke, before he could think otherwise he grabbed the man’s hand and pulled it towards him.
It was – it was the same ring. Ben looked down at the small white gold ring, a ring that had a small dragon wrapped around a red gemstone. “That was my brother’s ring – where did you get it?”
The man quickly retracted his hand. “I won it,” he replied simply, his voice holding a coldness that suggested he would answer no more questions.
You won it? A surge of apprehension took root in Ben’s brain. It washed over his body but it didn’t manifest itself into fear – instead Ben felt a rush of determination.
“He was wearing that ring when he disappeared,” Ben snapped. He snatched the man’s jacket sleeve and yanked him forward.
The man stumbled into the light, and it was then that Ben froze in shock.
He recognized him.
Ben recognized him.
It was a face that he had never forgotten. How could he forget it? He had been describing this very man to all of his friends, and even the police after Ben’s brother Erick had seemed to have vanished off of the face of the earth.
It was the face of someone unworldly beautiful. He had flawless skin as pale as the moon, and silver hair that seemed to sparkle under the artificial lights of the town. But the silver wasn’t from age, the man appeared to be in his early twenties, it was an odd supernatural hue that Ben had never seen before in his life.
And that wasn’t the only thing odd about him. His eyes were deep purple, with flecks of sparkling light inside of them like one would see when staring at a nebula.
He was the last person Ben had seen his brother with, before he had disappeared into thin air.
“What did you do with Erick?” Ben whispered as the man shoved his hand away from Ben and took a step back towards the darkness.
“Our business is concluded,” the silver-haired man replied. Ben could see the coldness in his eyes.
Ben’s shook his head back and forth, his brother’s face flashing in his vision. A taunting image that haunted his dreams just as much as that silver-haired man had.
It taunted him for a different reason however. Because though it pained him to admit it now, he had never gotten along that well with his brother. Erick was a low-functioning addict and had been a thorn in Ben’s side ever since he had discovered drugs. He was a thieving, borderline sociopathic, manic mess and he and Ben had had more than their share of fights.
I hadn’t been surprised when Erick went missing, but that never meant I wanted him to die.
With the images of his long gone brother flashing through his mind, Ben felt himself start to shake with rage. In a matter of seconds the rage overwhelmed him and, without giving it a second thought, he rushed the man and ripped the dragon ring right off of his finger.
“Ben!” he heard Tav scream, but his voice fell on deaf ears; the next thing Ben knew he was shoving the silver-haired man onto the ground.
“Where’s Erick?” Ben yelled, desperately grabbing the man’s jacket. He felt a sting come to his eyes as long buried emotions started to rush up from their disturbed graves. “Where the fuck is he?”
To Ben’s distain the intimidation didn’t seem to affect the man at all. He could see the man’s glaring eyes staring at him with a brilliance that seemed to glow in the darkness. “Answer me, asshole!”
Then the burly man was there. Like he had gotten sucked up by a vacuum Ben felt himself get ripped off of the man and thrown backwards. Stars blinded his vision as he slammed against the wall, before he fell down with a painful thud.
Ben coughed, the wind getting knocked out of him. He looked up, feeling his mouth fill with the taste of copper, and saw the bigger one glaring back down at him. His face holding a blazing anger that dared Ben to get up off of the ground.
“I know not of whom you speak,” the silver-haired man replied with a silent grace that seemed unsuited for the situation. Ben watched as he got up off of the ground and, with delicate hands, started dusting off his black pants.
The man’s indifference filled Ben with a fresh rage. He felt like attacking him again but the warm blood dripping down the side of his face and the haze creeping the corners of his vision urged him to stay still.
But I can’t let him just leave…
“Tell me, just tell me what you did with him,” Ben said, stumbling to his feet. He took a step towards the silver-haired man but the burly one held out a thick arm to stop him.
“I know not–”
“I’m his brother!” Ben yelled. “I’ll – I’ll find a way to follow you, asshole. I won’t let you go without some fucking answers.”
To Ben’s surprise the man paused, before lowering his head as if regretting what he was about to say next.
It didn’t take long for Ben to realize why.
“Silence him – keep him from following me,” the man said quietly to his bodyguard.
“NO!” Ben snarled, and advanced towards the man.
But he didn’t even make it one step.
The burly man grabbed Ben’s shoulder and yanked him backwards. He gripped Ben’s shoulders hard and before Ben could even brace himself, he smashed his face against the brick wall of the alley.
Tav’s shrill screaming echoed around him. Ben felt himself fall to the ground with a groan, the dark yet bright world around him swirling around in distorted chaos.
“Tav – Tav – fucking run…” Ben groaned, before feeling a heavy impact on his stomach. He closed his eyes and tried to scream but found himself only coughing as more blood filled his mouth.
The world went dark soon after.
2
Every muscle in Ben’s body screamed from pain when he moved. He was uncomfortable, drenched in sweat, and his throat was so dry it felt like he had swallowed the Sahara desert. He had no idea what day it was or how long he had been in bed for but what he did know was that he needed painkillers and he needed them now.
Ben moaned and shifted his position. He tried to open his eyes but found the light in his bedroom was too overpowering. Instead he gave out a disgruntled groan and put a hand over his eyes in a weak attempt to shield them from the searing light.
“Hey, Benji.” He could hear Tav’s kind voice but it seemed distant and garbled. Even when Ben tried to focus his energy to make his ears work they just seemed to fill with damp cotton.
“Morphine, Tav,” Ben groaned. Though he had no idea what had happened to him or why he was in so much pain, he knew that a portion of his agony was caused from the withdrawals. And if he was this deep into detoxing it meant he had been out of commission for at least a day.
Which means I need morphine – I’ll feel better after a pill or two.
“Shhh, relax,” Tav’s soft voice soothed.
Ben felt a cold cloth on his forehead. He winced at the sudden influx of sensation and twisted uncomfortably in his bed, but soon felt his body relax as the wet cloth alleviated his burning forehead.
Tav, in his typical caring fashion, started to gently rub the cloth against Ben’s forehead before travelling down and wiping Ben’s eyes, as if encouraging him to open them.
Ben squinted and blinked a few times and saw Tav looking at him, his face tight with worry.
“Hey, mister.” The brown-haired boy gave him a warm smile. Ben noticed right away that he had been crying. From the looks of it he had taken up residence beside Ben’s bed; he could see a blanket and a pillow squished up against the wall and a jug of water beside clean washcloths.
“What happened?” Ben mumbled. For the life of him he couldn’t remember what had gone on but it had obviously been something bad.
Tav kept wiping Ben’s forehead with the cloth and shushed him. “Here,” he said. He reached to the ni
ghtstand beside Ben’s bed and picked up bottle of yellow pills. “Sit up,”
Ben painfully sat up to the sitting position and Tav handed him two morphine pills.
“Oh, that’s great, thanks, Tav.” Ben sighed with relief. He picked up a glass of water that had been sitting on his bedside table and chewed the pills.
Ben grimaced as a ripple of pain shot through his forehead telling him without holding back that his head held many cuts and bruises. From the heat on his face and the tightness, he knew that not only was he beaten to shit… but that he probably looked like shit too.
Tav placed the bottle back on the table and was silent. Ben was appreciative of the silence. Tav knew enough to know how Ben preferred quiet when he had just taken drugs, especially when he was in pain or in withdrawals.
Ben closed his eyes and let Tav continue to dab his forehead. It took over ten minutes but like the reliable drugs they were, they started to do their work. A warm, pain-free, melting feeling started to overcome the discomfort Ben was in. He immediately started to feel better, the cloudiness was gone, the pain was getting numbed down, and the withdrawal symptoms started rolling off of his body.
“That’s the stuff,” Ben whispered. He opened his eyes after a few minutes and looked at Tav, now holding the cloth.
“Wait…” Ben blinked. He looked at the cloth Tav was holding and noticed that it was stained red. He put a hand up to his forehead but jerked it away as a ripple of pain rewarded him for his curiosity.
Suddenly it all started to click together. Though Ben had been aware that he was injured, he was now conscious enough to ask the all-important questions of why and how.
“My head… what happened?” Ben suddenly said in alarm. He tried to fully sit up but Tav stopped him with a hand against his chest.
“You – you got beat up,” Tav began. He said every word slowly like he was hesitant to speak them. “We’re still trying to figure out who – it wasn’t anyone we’d ever seen before,” he explained. “We were doing a drop off and Emett’s pick-up was someone different this time. You two got into an argument and he had a bodyguard dude with him.”
“Who was it?” Ben demanded. He couldn’t for the life of him remember anything about what happened; all he knew was that he had to get as much information out of Tav as he could. There had never been any problems with his drug deals, besides the occasional scare with a cop car. If this was going to start getting dangerous Ben had to prepare himself.
Tav stared at him for a moment before he shrugged. “I couldn’t see him and the guy who beat you up… I didn’t recognize either.”
That wasn’t good enough. “Emett should know who he sent. What did he say?” Ben pushed.
At the same time there was some movement at the door. Ben looked up and saw his two friends: Emett and David. They were both peering in on him with matching smirks on their faces.
“Hey, Sleeping Beauty, finally decided to join the party, eh?” Emett said cheerfully. He had a cigarette hanging out the side of his mouth; his heavily tattooed arms crossed over a black collared shirt.
Emett was a tall man with a well-built body, light brown short-cropped hair, facial stubble, and although he was indoors, he was wearing sunglasses.
“What the hell did you do, Emett?” Ben snapped. He pushed Tav aside and stood up on his feet. He swayed as the pain swept through him but managed to keep his balance.
“Hey, don’t look at me.” Emett raised his hands up defensively. “My dude says you never showed up. I have no idea what the fuck happened to you.”
“Ben… take it easy, you’re really hurt,” Tav said quietly. He put his hand on Ben’s shoulder but Ben shrugged him off. Ignoring Tav’s nervous sounds he continued to glare down Emett, preparing himself mentally in case a fight broke out.
“Then what the fuck do you think happened? He’s obviously lying, dumbass. You almost got me killed,” Ben raised his voice; he felt Tav’s hand on his shoulder but once again he jerked away.
“Look, I don’t know, okay? This dude isn’t one to lie, he says you never showed,” Emett snapped back, his own temper starting to rise. His own roommate, David, started to move in front of him, both he and Tav sensing a fight was brewing.
“Well, whatever the fuck happened I’m out three thousand dollars and my head is cracked open,” Ben yelled, separating his arms in an intimidating stance. “So now I can’t trust you or your friends. You could’ve gotten me and Tav kill-”
“– he paid us,” Tav’s submissive voice sounded.
Ben stopped and stared at him.
“Then who was it, Tav?” Ben raised his voice higher.
Tav shrunk down and shrugged.
“Yeah, that’s right…” Emett turned to Tav as well and took a step closer to him. “Ben can’t remember a thing, you can. So what happened, Tav’o? You were the one that took my call, you had the info. So what happened? Are you trying to screw us?”
The young man cowered. He took a step back and leaned against the wall, not making eye contact with any of them. It looked like he wanted to disappear into himself; the tension in the room was stifling.
“I – I couldn’t see him. It was dark. He paid us the whole amount but something happened… and he got mad at Ben,” he stammered, his eyes locked on the dirty brown carpet below him.
Ben made a frustrated noise. He wanted answers; he had to know what was going on, but he was starting to feel faint and dizzy from standing for so long. It didn’t seem like his body was ready to be active quite yet.
“So Tav’s the only one who remembers anything?” Emett said with a nasty edge to his voice. “What did Ben do to piss the fucker off?”
“I couldn’t hear. I kept my distance like Ben taught me,” was Tav’s reply.
“Well, I guess we will never know then; I guess–” Emett suddenly stopped; he looked at Ben in alarmed. “Ben? Dammit, look at him.”
Emett quickly stuck his cigarette back in his mouth and walked quickly towards his friend, just in time to catch Ben as he stumbled forward, losing his balance. With David’s help, Emett held up Ben just as his eyes started to roll back into his head.
“Help me get him into bed,” Emett said through the cigarette in his teeth. David nodded and together they laid their friend back onto the bed. When he was safely laying down Emett gave Ben’s cheek a small smack, before swearing loudly.
“Passed out cold – poor little shit,” Emett said. He checked Ben’s forehead and glanced over at Tav.
“Bugger has a pretty bad fever,” Emett said to him. “He’s sick all the time nowadays. I told you Tav’o; ever since Erick disappeared he’s just seemed to have given up. I’m no medical doctor but I know he’s depressed.”
“I’ll get him some water,” David’s voice sounded behind the two, and, without another word, he disappeared out the bedroom door, leaving Tav and Emett alone with Ben.
“Are you going to be okay with him or should we take him to the emerg?” Emett asked. He looked down at Ben and tsked at how beat up he looked.
The poor fucker had a two inch split in his hairline and rough scratches on his face and scalp. And on top of that, his chest and torso were covered in bruises and small cuts; signature signs of someone who had pissed off someone bigger than them, and had suffered the consequences.
“I’ll watch him,” Tav replied.
“I don’t know what the hell happened, Tav,” Emett said, taking a drag from his cigarette. “But I know my guy says you two never showed up. “
Tav was silent; he wordlessly took the glass of cold water from David and placed it on the night table, right beside Ben’s morphine pills and Tav’s own stack of clean rags.
“I can only conclude that my guy got lazy and sent someone else to fetch the stuff and he ended up getting screwed.” Emett turned away from Tav and Ben and made his way towards the door. “Because I know you wouldn’t screw Ben over – I see the way you two look at each other.”
Tav closed his eyes momentarily a
nd sighed, but said nothing back.
“I’ll try and get the truth out of my guy,” Emett said as he put on his leather jacket. “In the meantime, keep an eye on Benji.”
“I will,” Tav replied quietly, his shoulders slumped and his soft face holding sadness.
Emett nodded and motioned for David to leave; he took one last look at Tav and the unconscious Ben, and left.
3
Ben spent the next several days in bed but he didn’t mind, he realized quickly that he could get Tav to wait on him hand and foot.
It wasn’t like he could do that much anyway. He was still bruised and still hurting badly, but luckily the pills he was already in a habit of taking had helped with the pain. It didn’t seem to cheer him up as much as he wished though; a dark cloud had been weighing on him ever since the incident with the drug exchange that he barely remembered. The drugs or weed usually numbed him but this time he had been having a hard time shaking this feeling of melancholy.
Ben moved to the living room couch after he was conscious enough for the bed to become boring. He picked up the remote and started flipping through the channels.
“Work called again…” Tav’s voice trailed. He was beside Ben on the couch trying to carefully roll a joint.
Ben grimaced and flicked the channel to cartoons. He started to chew on the back of his remote, an odd thing he liked to do when he was stressed.
“Do I have to?” he said finally with a sigh.
Tav smiled and watched as his roommate stress gnawed; the poor remote already full of puncture marks. He picked up Ben’s morphine and took a couple pills out before tossing him the bottle.
“Do you want my professional roommate opinion or do you want the opinion of a poor Albanian farm boy?”
Ben laughed weakly and took out two pills for himself. He popped them into his mouth and washed them down with a drink of his Dr. Pepper. “I know I have to,” he said, his mouth pulling into a frown. He shifted down on the couch until he was lying down and pressed his bare feet into Tav’s side. “If I take another day off Officer Karl is going to get pissed off.”
