Sobriety Is Super Overrated

Guns For Gold

I come out of the pawn shop with more money than I expected. There was at least eight hundred dollars in my hands from selling the gun and what was in that jewelry box. A surprising amount, considering it's more than I usually make for pawning stuff like that. Maybe its just because I stopped by a different pawn shop this time? I still have some left over heroin at my place but I don't really have much else in my drug stash. I need to hook up with my dealer again. But I won't be able to do that until I get to my phone and message him, but I left my phone at my apartment. And I don't want to spend it all in one day. Spending it all in one day would probably mean begging one of my siblings to give me money, or going back to Dad's mansion and seeing what else I can find from there. I need a little something though. If I won't get any extreme stuff, then at least I can go to the corner stores and buy a pack of cigarettes.

I can't help it, I'm just craving something right now. Sometimes it almost feels as though I need it, or I can't live without it. When I first started of course I intended on stopping, at least after a few times, but then it felt so good and it took the ghosts away. I never meant for my life to revolve around drugs, it just sort of happened. I turn the corner into a less pleasant side of town. Or at least less pleasant than the unpleasantness already was.

On nearly every corner there's some homeless person begging for change. If I had a dime to spare, I would give it to them but all my current funds are going towards this. I'm not strong enough for them to not go towards this. I wish I were but I'm not. I hope Diego never finds out, but I know that as soon as he sees me he's going to know. His observational skills are better than anyone I've ever encountered. Plus he has a lot of experience from running around in that stupid suit all day. I almost want to call him ridiculous, but that's probably too much of a compliment considering he also wears a mask sometimes when he's "on the job". He's going to be so disappointed in me. Everyone will, but he was the one who really thought I could do it. He really believed in me. Even if he doesn't always act like it, Diego is a good brother. Despite the fact that he's a knife wielding maniac.

I inhale a deep breath as I enter the corner store. There's a fat, balding man working at the counter who's name tag says Joe. At the very least I didn't end up like him. But at the same time he probably has a loving family and kids while all I have is a couple of dysfunctional siblings and a dead lover.

"A pack of cigarettes, please."

"Can you show me some ID?"

I pull out my wallet and show him my ID card. He doesn't look at it too throughly, assuming that most people who have an ID are probably 18 or over. But of course when I was a teenager I would fake my age all the time. That's probably what allowed me to start doing drugs in the first place.

He passes me the pack of cigarettes and charges me. I give him the money and leave. I like this guy. He's not one of those retail people who try to make small talk or connect with their customers. He just gets the job done and leaves me be. I probably wouldn't want to talk to him about the weather anyway.

I'm grateful that when I reach into my jacket pock my old lighter is still there. I put a cigarette to my lips and cup my hands over it so that it lights up. It's slowly starting to rain outside and I know I should probably get back to my apartment before I get caught in the rain. Unfortunately, my apartment is still quite a while away. At least more of a while away than the Hargeeves Mansion is.

I take a long drag from my cigarette. Can I really go back to that place again? I just have so many bad memories there, all because of dear old dad and how he was such a fucked up father there's probably not one of us who he didn't hurt. Even his precious Spaceboy. Nothing could ever even touch Luther. Daddy's Number One. And Luther never let us forget it. Now he knows that apparently, Dad's betrayed him too. I might as well just go over there and drop by, at least until the rain calms down. Or I could grab an umbrella and walk all the way to my place, but I would still have to stop by the Academy to do that, so I guess there really is no way around it.

It's much more worn and rickety than I remember it being the last time I was here. Ben's statue lay in smithereens in the dirt and the garden hasn't been tended too in a while. Then I remember that Grace is dead now, so there's no one to clean up after us. All the more reason to make even more a mess of the house while we still can. At least until something crazy happens. That's how it always is with Dad. Somehow he just knew whenever something weird of dangerous happened he would just send us to fix it. Fix everyone's problems and be out of his way. That was why he sent us on missions. We were the worlds clean up crew, and for some reason we were rewarded for that. People loved us. Even if Dad didn't.

When I enter the house, it's surprisingly more quiet than I expected. The only one making any noise is Five, and he's just sitting at Dad's bar drinking regular old black coffee. Sometimes I seriously think that guy has more of an addiction to caffeine than I do to drugs.

"Hey Klaus."

"Five. Where is everyone?"

"The world is ending. And nobody cares apparently." Five sighs.

"What do you mean the world is ending."

"It's about to go ka-boom, and the Umbrella Academy were the only ones who could stop it."

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Are you seriously still wasting your life reading this shit?