fires and floods. | dominic fike

12

Dominic hunched over the motel toilet, throwing up even though he hadn't eaten in days. His body was sweaty, he wanted nothing more than to zip out of his own skin to alleviate the lack of comfort. His breathing was heavy with every inhale he attempted to take, the boy felt so helpless.

He heard the front door open, Alex had arrived home from wherever he was. It was 10PM at night, usually a little later than Alex usually arrives. The younger brother dropped his things on his bed, immediately noticing the legs of Dominic peeking out from the small bathroom door frame.

"Yo, Dom,"Alex looked down at his brother, these withdrawals were evidently kicking his ass. Reaching into his pocket, his fingers grasped the prescription bottle. Alex kneeled down next to the toilet, beginning to grind one of the white capsules along the toilet seat. Grabbing a random card from his wallet, he made a thin white line from the powder he had now formed.

"I can't Alex, I've been sober for almost a month now. I can't." Dominic panted from his fetal position on the bathroom tiles.

"It's just an adderall. A little helps with the withdrawal." Alex informed him, looking down at his brother's despaired state. Alex could sense Dom's hesitancy to take it, but he wanted his brother to feel better as soon as possible.

"Just fucking do it, jit!" Alex raised his voice at Dominic, the loudness forcing him to scramble himself up and leaning  over the white lines. He looked up at his brother, before slowly placing his nose against the toilet seat and inhaling the white powder. Alex placed a supportive hand on his brothers shower, rubbing it softly enough to show Dom that Alex wasn't upset with him. Dominic knew how badly he needed to get it together, and he knew how badly Alex wanted for it to happen.

"Next time you wanna get into this shit, remember you also snorted up all my ass skin cells just now." Alex spoke lowly, trying to lower the tension as Dominic's body began to gain composure. Dominic shook his head, a broken smile on his face.

Dominic cleaned up the bathroom thoroughly, then taking a shower himself before plopping himself on his bed, body spread like a starfish. The adderall didn't really get him high, it was a mere buzz. A small reminder of what he could feel if he went back to his  bad habit.

It was now midnight, and Alex was passed the fuck out. His soft snores accompanied the motel TV playing, the late night program coming from Adult Swim. He was getting slightly bored of the ramblings of Rick and Morty, his already depleting brain cells feeling more bored than ever. Dominic was still dealing with withdrawal symptoms, headaches and irritation, but no longer was ill. He began to feel antsy, he knew if he had drugs on him, he could just go into the bathroom and do a line or two and his evening would be tolerable. Dominic's eyes trailed to the car keys on the little table in the corner of the motel room. He had a million thoughts going on at once. The desperation to just get up and go buy from Aleida was fighting with his sobriety, and his addiction was winning.

In an instant, Dominic zoomed over to the keys, grabbing them and closing the motel room door soft enough to where Alex only stirred into his sleep, allowing the teenage boy to disappear into the night.