Died (Layne Staley ❤️)

Cotton

The Past, 1993

Layne had been clean for a good 4 months. It wasn't an easy feat. Every single night was a battle for him, considering he was on tour with the band during his sobriety battle ever since him & Demri got discharged from rehab. His best friend Mike had quit the band, leaving all of them with no choice but to have Inez take his place. It broke Layne's heart to see Mike leave all because they were shooting H together.

He was relieved to head back home to his apartment. To see Demri. She was his only solace, the only person who could truly cheer him up & get his mind off of dope. They spoke on the phone every single night to help each other stay clean.

A smile creased Layne's face as he pulled up to the driveway of their apartment. He was more than excited to see her. especially since she had told him she had stayed off drugs the entire time he was away.

Jumping out of the car & swinging the door shut, he slowly made his way to the front door. Taking in a deep breath, he knocked.

There was no answer.

He furrowed his brows with confusion, pressing his ear up against the door. It was silent. He knocked louder this time.

To no avail, there still wasn't an answer from the other side.

His heart thumped hard in his chest as he fidgeted with his leather jacket to yank out his keys. He unlocked it. Quickly, he swung the door open.

A smog of smoke blew in his face, causing his eyes to water. His deep blue eyes searched desperately around the living room of the apartment. He shook his head at the mess that was scattered infront of him.

Beer cans & cigarette butts matted the floor. Sighing, he shut the door behind him & ventured down the hall to the bedroom. When he opened the door to it, tears fell down his cheeks.

Demri was passed out on the bed.

A tourniquet still tied around her bicep.

Used syringe needles were piled up on the nightstand. His eyes widened when he noticed a bag filled with dirty shredded pieces of cotton on the floor.

His intuition kicked in, running over to her. He lightly tapped her on her cheek.

"Dem... Dem, please," he whimpered, his eyes searching her pale face. "Please wake up, I need you..."

There was no movement from her.  Layne pressed his head up against her chest, crying with relief to hear her heart thump slowly within it. He ran his fingers through her dull matted hair, sniffling back more tears.

"Demri," he muttered. He tapped her on her face again. His heart stopped when she finally squirmed a bit underneath him. When those dark eyes slowly opened, he forced a smile. "Demri, I'm back..."

She didn't even smirk. She slowly sat up, rubbing her temples. Anger was stricken across her face when her eyes rested on her fiancé.

"Took you FOREVER to get back home," she spat bitterly. A sigh escaped her when she turned to see the tourniquet tied on her arm. She slowly untied it, her hands shaking.

Layne bit his lip, his eyes jotting around the messy bedroom. "I thought you said you were clean..."

"I NEVER said I was sober, the FUCK are you talking about?!" She sneered, looking at him like he was crazy. She tossed the tourniquet lazily off the bed, her eyes narrowing when they landed back on Layne. "You left me. You left me without ANY money!"

Layne raised a puzzled brow. "I left you PLENTY of money, what are you talking about..."

She sniffled, scratching at her neck. Still trembling, she bent over the side of her bed & lifted the bag of used cotton. She shook it infront of him. "You didn't leave me enough to even fucking buy cotton, you FUCK."

Layne jumped up from the bed, rage now taking over. "I ASSUMED YOU WERENT GOING TO GO OUT AND BUY DOPE!!! WE WENT TO FUCKING REHAB TOGETHER!" Tears escaped him again, his body curling to his knees. "You said you'd stay clean with me, what the fuck, Dem?!" he sobbed.

She rolled her eyes. "You know that was all a bunch of BULLSHIT. We only went because your dumb ass mother was BEGGING us to."

Layne shook his head at her. "No, we went because we kept fucking OVERDOSING! You stated you were tired of suffering from this! What the heck, is your memory THAT bad?!"

Demri tossed the bag of dirty cotton at him. Her face burnt crimson. "I HAD TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL THE OTHER NIGHT!!! All because YOU didn't give me enough dough to buy a fucking one dollar bag of COTTON!"

Layne's eyes widened in fear. "You were in the hospital?!"

"Yeah," she grumbled. She rubbed her arm, pain stricken on her face. "Got a bacterial infection..."

"Why didn't you tell me?!"

She sighed. "I didn't want to worry you. Plus YOU DIDNT GIVE ME FUCKING MONEY FOR COTTON! OR SYRINGES!!!"

Layne's eyes watered. "So, you're blaming this on me?"

" I'm blaming all of this on you," she snarled. "You're the one that got me into it in the first place."