A Place That Only We Know

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen

Alan exhaled slowly as he lowered himself into the bath, closing his eyes behind his glasses as he did. Five days of nonstop crying and he had finally stopped. That didn't mean he was over Eric, no. He would never be over Eric. Never. He loved Eric so much and he wasn't going to get over him; at the same time, though, Alan wasn't sure if he could forgive him for what he did. He missed Eric. He missed him with every inch of his being but he was afraid to take him back. Surely Eric had learned his lesson, right? Of course, Alan wouldn't know. He hadn't seen Eric in six days. Slowly Alan opened his eyes and looked at the scars that now covered his thighs and wrists. Slowly he smiled and ran his delicate fingers across them, admiring his handy work. It was a way to relieve his pain, right? It wasn't bad if it relieved pain. After a few more moments of silence Alan was interrrupted by a knock on the bathroom door.

"Alan?"

"Mm?"

"I'm going to the grocery, alright?"

"Alright."

"You want anything specific?" Alan sighed before he smiled and shook his head.

"No, Alina, I'm fine. Don't worry." Alina bit her lip before she nodded her head and blew a kiss to her younger brother through the door.

The brunette listened and stayed perfectly quite for a good five minutes until he was positive that Alina had left. He waited another ten minutes before he finished cleaning himself u[ to get out of the bath. Once he did he got dressed in a lovely clad black suit with an "appropriate tie" rather than his bolo tie that Alina thought inappropriate for formal occasions. Slowly he walked from the bathroom, letting the steam leave the room, as he walked to his bedroom and to his desk. He smiled before he pulled out a good five pieces of paper and got an envelope from his desk. He opened the envelope before he folded the papers and put them inside. Before he sealed it, he took a small erica from his vase and wrote 'For Eric' on a much smaller piece of paper before pinning it to the erica's stem with a needle and dropping it in the envelope as well. Alan smiled, sealing it closed before he placed a kiss on it before he slowly walked back to the bathroom. He inhaled slowly. He was ready to go with the feeling that had settled inside of his heart. He was slightly afraid, though. He had never done this before. Never. Carefully he set the envelope on the marble bathroom counter before he reached up to the medicine cabinet and pulled out the anti-depressants that Alina used to slip in with his pills for the Thorns. Before he closed it he grabbed those too. He smiled, opening both of the bottles of pills as tears streamed down his cheeks. Finally the pain was going to stop. Carefully he counted out sixty pills, thirty from the anti-depressants and thirty from the Thorns medicine.

Slowly he sighed before swallowing them in handfuls, making sure that he wouldn't be able to avoid death. It was time for him. A few minutes passed before he felt light headed and there in front of him stood a woman in clad black. It wasn't the Thorns, though. He would've recognized her. No, this woman had a more comforting sense to her. Gently the woman reached out and placed her hand at Alan's chest. The touch was gentle to Alan at first but quickly it became agonizing and he wanted nothing more than to get the woman off of him. No matter how hard he tried, though, she never budged and he slowly got weaker. He looked up to the woman, his heart rate speeding as he looked at her. It was Death. Death was taking him. He felt his eyes flutter as it suddenly became harder to breathe and his heart felt like it was about to pop. Then suddenly it stopped. The pain stopped, the fast beating heart, the breathing. It all stopped. Alan stopped and there he was, dead on the bathroom floor.

Alina returned home an hour and thirty minutes later, unloading groceries before she carried in some McDonald's for she and Alan to snack on. Something didn't feel right though. The house was oddly silent. There wasn't any soft music playing, there wasn't any sounds of Alan still in the bath, there weren't any sounds to indicate that anyone was alive. Slowly Alina began to walk upstairs, worry boiling up inside of her. She walked straight to Alan's room. She opened the door and looked around, seeing him nowhere. She inhaled slowly, closing her eyes for a moment as she tried to calm down before she walked to the bathroom. To her dismay, she saw the door cracked open slightly. Quickly she ran into the bathroom and screamed when she saw her brother pale and lifeless on the floor with two pill bottles by his side. Without hesitation, Alina ran to the phone and quickly dialed the infirmary number.

"Th-This is Alina Humphries," she spoke quickly, trying not to cry so they could hear her. "Send an ambulance please I think Alan overdosed. Please please please hurry."

"Yes, Ms. Humphries, we're sending an ambulance to your location." The woman answered. Alina hung up before she ran back upstairs and cradled Alan in her arms, sobbing into his chest as she listened for any sign of him still being alive.

"I've got you Alan, I've got you." She sobbed before he shaky voice began to softly sing. "Hush little baby, don't say a word, mama's gonna buy you a mocking bird. And if that mocking bird don't sing, mama's gonna buy you a diamond ring..."