Sober (TsukkiYama Angst)

Those Three Words

Trigger warnings: I really don't know how to tag this chapter. It details Tsukki's family finding him and taking him to the hospital and their emotional reactions. There are mentions of self harm, suicide, hospitals, drugs, and alcohol abuse.

~Akiteru~

I arrived home around 8 p.m. on Saturday. The house was quiet. Peaceful, like I was home alone. I took my shoes off and placed them on the edge of the step. I rubbed my eyes as I stood up, as I was tired from that day. All of the lights downstairs were on, and everyone seemed to be upstairs, so I started to turn them off since I would be going upstairs too. First to talk to Mom, then talk to Kei about therapy.

I started with the living room. Kei's glasses and the remote were sitting on the coffee table. He rarely wore his glasses indoors, so they ended up there very often. I turned the light off and moved on.

I walked to the kitchen. There was a sake bottle on the counter. There weren't any shot glasses or sake cups next to it. On the dinner table, there was a small packet of notebook paper with a bottle of Tylenol on top of it.

I walked in to put the Tylenol in the medicine cabinet, but when I picked it up, it didn't make a sound. It was empty. I looked back at the table. Perhaps Mom made a shopping list and would be getting more pain killers. I picked up the notebook papers. It was torn from a spiral notebook with the broken papers neatly cleaned up. I soon realized it wasn't Mom's handwriting on the paper. It was too relaxed and lazy to be hers.

"Hey,

I want to start this by saying, don't cry for me."

It was at that moment when I snapped. A fire lit up or something. My brain completely disassociated from my body, like someone else was controlling me. Everything just happened on its own.

I haphazardly folded the papers and stuffed them into my jacket. My legs carried me up the stairs and towards Kei's room. I stopped at the bathroom because the light was on and the water was running.

I opened the door. There he was. My little brother. He was on his side, twitching, bleeding, almost dead. His entire left arm was covered in red horizontal scabs. His right was scabbed up to his forearm, his bicep had multiple cuts that were bleeding. He had a knife from the kitchen in his left hand. His eyes were closed and he didn't acknowledge me.

"Kei...!" I let out a panicked shout. He didn't respond to me.

I entered the bathroom and took the knife out of his hand. I turned off the sink and rotated him onto his back. He let out a little groan, his face making a few micro-movements.

"Kei," I said again.

I pulled him up and lifted his back off the ground. His hand gave the smallest squeeze around mine. He rubbed his eye before his eyelids fluttered open. His scleras were tinted yellow, and his pupils didn't look in my direction.

"Nii-chan...?" His voice was weak.

He didn't let go of my hand, so I kept holding his. I fished my phone out of my pocket and called an ambulance. My eyes scanned over Kei as I waited for the operator to pick up. He had yellow spots on his head, his neck, and his fingertips. He was sweating, but he shivered as if he was cold.

"119?" A female voice said from the other line.

"Um, hi. I-" I stumbled a little bit, "I need an ambulance for my brother. I think he overdosed on Tylenol."

The door opened and I turned my head. Mom was standing in the doorway, her face full of pure terror and shock.

"Address and description of the patient?"