Remnants of Evil

5

A loud knock sounded on the front door, causing my heart to race and my hand to lower. I waited for the sound of Ari opening the door, but it didn't happen, and once again the knocking came.

I slid the orange cap back onto the needle, anger brewing in my core as I released the tight knot from my arm, shaking it to try and quickly end the tingling. I shoved everything back to where it had been, praying that I would return to it soon.

Ari was still in his spot on the couch, his eyes closed and his face buried in the cushion. If he hadn't been a moody bitch I'd be in fuckin' bliss right now, but no he had to wallow in his sorrow and try to drown out everything with whatever punk shit he was listening to.

Agitation continued to make its way into my chest as the knocks came once again, pulling open the door before they could finish.

"What're you doing here?" The smile on the mans face wavered as he recognized the edge on my words.

"I just wanted to see how you were doing, it's been a minute," Kevin stood there, backlit by the late afternoon sun, looking me up and down, his eyes locking on my arm for a second. I quickly crossed my arms, my gaze meeting his.

"I'm doing fine, is that all you wanted to hear?"

"I wanna hear whatever you're willing to tell me."

I exhaled, my thoughts continually returning to what I had waiting for me in the bathroom, trying to push them out as Kevin just stood there. He came to check on me, he cares, I can be sober for a second. I moved to the side of the doorway, closing the door behind him.

We sat at the kitchen table, heavy silence flooding the room as I searched for the words to say.

"Shits been hard." Kevin nodded understandingly. "It feels like everything's falling apart ya know? I'm paranoid as shit, and been on edge ever since it happened. Ari's tired of dealing with me, he's pissed I'm back to my bad habits. Scott's just as bad as I am right now. I got no one." The words spilled out, it was true, I had no one to talk to and now that I'd been given the chance I just word vomited.

"You know you always got me, right? Even if you ever just gotta get outta the house my doors open, I even got a pull out couch."

"I don't wanna bug you and Courtney, you guys don't need any more added stress." I shook my head, doubting they'd want a junkie on their couch while she's going through chemo.

"She loves you as much as I do ma, plus she'd enjoy the company. She ain't had any girl time in a while, I'm sure she'd enjoy being away from me for a minute." His face brightened as he saw me smile, before slowly becoming serious again.

"You gotta kick that shit though," he nodded towards my arm, "I know it's easier to say than do but you can't waste your life chasing death. Ion want you to be another statistic."

I nodded. We'd both lost too many people to drugs, watching it's place on the lead causes of death rise with each one, watching them turn to just another number on the board, just another percentage. Scott had almost been one of them, barely breathing as Ari called 911, his lips blue, his body cold. If he had died that day I'd be sitting in prison with a murder charge because I shot him up, because I misjudged how high of a dose he could handle. Ari didn't forgive me for that for a long time.

Kevin pulled me into a hug, kissing the top of my head before we parted ways, promising that I'd be over soon. Once again the house was silent, my thoughts returning to what I had waiting for me in the bathroom. My stomach was turning, nausea clouding my head. My body moved on autopilot, locking myself in the small room.

I met my reflection in the mirror, disgust filling the pit in my stomach as I stared into eyes I no longer recognized. Deep purple circles surrounding them, normally bright green irises now dull, and the rest bloodshot. My face was breaking out, my cheekbones prominent, my lips cracked from being dried out.

My brain was begging my body to move, to reach into the cabinet and retrieve my vice, but my body refused to listen. Instead it just opened the door and flicked off the lights, ignoring the demands from my brain as I made my way to Ari and tapped his shoulder.

He turned towards me, his eyes red as if he had been crying. I held out a cigarette for him and led him out our back door.

"You know I love you right?" I nodded in response, neither of us making eye contact as we sat on the old porch swing, our bodies close but not touching. "I wasn't kidding around with what I said earlier, but I fucking love you Kal."

"Pinky promise?"

He chuckled and rolled his eyes, a small smile appearing on his face as he locked his pinky around mine. "I promise I love you, and I promise that we should've stopped this pinky shit back in high school."

We kept our hands intertwined as we finished our cigarettes. As much as he thought pinky promises were childish it was the whole reason we were even together. A dumb promise in our first year of high school that led to us losing our virginities to eachother on graduation day, igniting something in both of us that had managed to work for the last eight years, and would continue on because I was going to figure out my shit.

"I hope you're ready to deal with sick me for a week."

"You're stopping?" Ari's eyes widened, his grip on my hand tightening and a smile lighting up his face as I nodded.

"This is sappy as shit but you're everything to me, you always have been, and Ion wanna lose that." His lips pressed against mine, pulling me into his arms.

"That's, like, disgustingly sweet," he chuckled, placing his hand under my chin. As he tilted my face up, our eyes met, the deep brown of his pulling me in, drowning me in their calmness. His lips were on mine again, firm yet soft, gentle but needy.

Aristos moved his hands to my hips, pulling me into his lap, the rough material of his jeans still able to be felt through my sweats. Our tongues slid against each other, his grip tightening on my upper thighs as I softly bit his lip. His hands slid towards my back, holding me tightly to him as he stood, my legs wrapping around his waist.

He carried my into the house, into our bedroom, laying me down on the grey blanket that covered our bed. Our lips parted, his long eyelashes fluttering as he opened his eyes and looked me over.

"You're beautiful," his voice was breathy and soft, sweet with the undertone of lust. His lips met my neck, softly biting into my skin as I purred out. We slipped out of our clothes, allowing our bodies to finally meet for what seemed like the first time in forever.

Soft moans filled the air that surrounded our bodies, my nails traced into Ari's back, holding him close. Each thrust only furthered our connection, distracting me from the growing nausea that plagued my body, every thought of using pushed out by the feeling of his body against mine, the feeling of him pushing into me.

We kissed as we finished, him falling beside me in the bed. I rested my head on his chest, basking in the post orgasm calm.

"I love you Ari."