Tranquilize Me (A Mötley Crüe Story)

11

Tommy:

It's been a week, and I've been released from the hospital, so now I'm being escorted back to the room I share with Nikki. I've only been released because I gained half a pound, and that thought gives me severe anxiety. But, I mean, if I can see Nikki, then I guess I can play along with this for a little while longer.

The nurse gives me a reassuring pat and smiles as she opens the door. The room is empty, and I see traces of Nikki, but no Nikki. She helps me get settled in, and then gently shuts my door. My thoughts are racing. I could exercise, but my body hurts and I'm feeling way too depressed. Maybe I should go down to the commons room and see if Nikki's there.

I drag myself off of the bed, all my limbs feeling incredibly heavy. My body aches, and I feel sluggish from being force-fed. They're trying to reverse everything that I've done. It sucks, I feel so trapped. I gently open the door and creep down the hallway, hearing a group therapy session taking place somewhere. I stride into the commons, seeing Vince and Mick playing some sort of card game, but I don't see Nikki, just a couple other kids I don't recognize.

"Hey, you guys seen Nikki?" I ask, pulling up a chair.

Mick scoffs, and Vince chuckles. "Nikki got himself thrown in 'the quiet room' for beating the shit out of two nurses this morning." Mick explains, throwing down a card on the table.

"WH-at?" I gasp.

"Yeah he got on top of this big ass nurse guy and started punching him in the face and screaming and of course the nurse had been giving him some trouble, but nobody ever believes Nikki. Before you came along, that place was like his second home." Vince continues.

"Yeah he's got a reputation, most nurses here don't like fucking with him. But man, Marcus set him off this morning."

"How?"

"Well we were just sitting up in here, and Marcus came up behind us, making some sort of joke about something, and it was directly aimed at Nikki, like he said his name and everything. Nikki of course got real fucking pissed and fucking jumped his ass and started beating the living shit outta him."

Nikki----

I kick at the wall again, throwing my self to the ground again. The tranquilizers have worn off and now I'm back to being my usual, self destructive self. I fucking hate quiet rooms, they always remind me of when I was tortured at St. Johns. A lot of kids here have bad memories of that place, but of all, I may just have the worst.

Nikki gets dragged from the padded cell, screaming at the top of his lungs as he's thrown onto a hospital bed. He's been in there for two days with no food and water. 

One nurse digs her elbow into her chest to hold him down and he screams louder. He can see the needle that they're trying to put into his arm and it's scaring him to death, he has no idea what's in it, this will be the third time he's overdosed from medicines that they've given him here. 

He jerks his arms, and does his best to break free from the doctors and nurses holding him down. He starts to get free, but suddenly, he's being forced to sit up. A sharp pain, and minutes later, his entire body goes limp, but he's still conscious. He's not only conscious, but still panicking, so he just starts screaming, running out of options. 

Someone grabs him, he can't breathe. He's dragged a couple of feet, before his head is plunged under  cold, cold water. He holds his breath, but the person holding him isn't letting up. He can't hold it any longer, he needs to breathe.

His lungs are screaming for air, and his mind is going  a little fuzzy. He gasps, unable to hold it any longer, and water shoots into his nose and mouth. Water is flooding into his lungs and soon he completely blacks out. 

He doesn't remember anything that happened after that, up until waking up in a hospital with his nose and lungs burning so bad that he is seriously wishing that they had just let him die. The police shut down St. Johns shortly after,  Nikki wouldn't have been the first kid to die that year, but they usually all were under mysterious, and horrific circumstances. The hospital had a long history of abuse, but the kids were usually diagnosed with behavioral problems and blamed for their own torture.

"Nikki?" Nurse Thomas asks.

I do my best to wipe my tears, just now noticing that I was crying. Thomas stands at the door, a sympathetic and concerned look on his face.

I look down, hoping that he won't notice that I'm crying. Of course, it's too late for that. I see his shoes cross the padded floor, and he sits down next to me. I sniffle, trying to avoid his eyes. "Nikki, what's up man?" He asks.

"Nothing, it's nothing you need to know about." I grumble, turning away from him.

"Hey, if you don't want to talk, that's okay. I just came in here to let you know that your friend is looking for you."

"I don't have friends."

"Really? Because Tommy sure seems to seem to think otherwise."

"Tommy?" I spring to my feet so fast that I nearly lose my balance again. "Where?"

"He's in you guys's room." Thomas informs me, getting off the floor as well.

I'm led back to our room, the walk down the hallway interrupted by screams from the common room. When I see him, I stop dead in my tracks. He still looks so pale, and so sick, but he's back, he's back to life, and his eyes have some life in them. The second Thomas walks away, I run into his arms, hugging him tightly.

"Nikki...Nik I'm sorry." He whispers, hugging me back.

"Shut up, don't you dare apologize." I mumble, before pulling him into a deep kiss.