Investigator

Chapter 9: Dark night

Mort's eyes struggled to open as the light that shone in nearly blinded him. By the time his eyes opened and the blurriness subsided he could finally make out his surroundings. He was in his living room but he wasn't alone. Sitting across from him was a silently sleeping Tony and Kevin, who was awake and looking at Mort. Mort went to move but his gut didn't let him, it felt like he had pin needles for ribs. He could feel his head burning but an icepack on his head kept it slightly balanced. Mort just gave up and laid back and closed his eyes.

"Fuck my life," Mort said quietly enough for Kevin to hear him. The pain kept shooting through his body.

"Yeah, we thought about taking you to a hospital but then we kind of realized you probably don't have any medical insurance." Kevin said, matching Mort's tone.

Mort let out a heavy sigh and touched his forehead. "Well, you aren't wrong. But I do have some beer in the fridge, that could probably help."

Kevin was hesitant at first to retrieve the drink for his friend but ended up getting it in the end. Mort grabbed the cold beverage and held it to his cheek before finally opening it and taking some swigs. The cold liquid retreating down his throat was refreshing even with the bitter taste of alcohol. Mort directed his attention to Kevin who was standing next to him. "You can go now, I think I can handle it from here," Mort said to Kevin who nodded silently. Kevin walked over to Tony and woke him up and the two stood in front of Mort.

"I'm sorry for what happened Mort," Tony said with guilt in his voice. Mort waved his hand for Tony to brush it off.

"It's fine, it's not your guy's fault," Mort moved the ice pack to the other side of his forehead "But let's promise to never go to that bar again." Mort said with a very very weak chuckle.

Kevin gave a light grin "Don't worry. Once I start working there I'll kick Dan's ass out before he could even breath in the air."

Mort gave a thumbs up and Tony and Kevin turned to leave. "Uh guys?" Mort said stopping the two in their tracks. Mort paused for a second before finally speaking. He looked down at the ground "Th... Thank you," Mort said very quietly in a low voice. Kevin and Tony smiled and nodded before finally walking out of Mort's house.

Now that those two were gone, it was up to the cripple to do things himself. Mort stood up and felt pain shoot up his whole body nearly knocking him back down onto the couch. But he pulled through.

He decided to go get a shower to wash off the stench of alcohol and blood that persisted on his body. He began walking down the hallway when he heard a knock at his door. He groaned and lumbered over to the door like a zombie and when he finally arrived and opened the door, he saw Susie on the other side.

When she saw Mort she immediately went wide eyed. "Holy hell! What happened?" She asked in shock.

Mort shrugged "A little this and that," Mort said tiredly, wanting to speed this along.

However Susie wasn't leaving so easily.

"Do you need help? I can come in and help you if you need it," Susie said in a sympathetic tone.

Mort shot her down. "No I'm good. I mean, I doubt you'd want to watch me shower and sleep." Mort stared at Susie with pleading eyes to go away.

However she either misread them or didn't acknowledge them, or maybe she just ignored them. "Are you sure? I can just keep an eye on you and make sure you're okay," Susie said, starting to sound less sympathetic and more desperate. She spoke like she really wanted to come in.

Mort was beginning to get irritated and he gave Susie one last outing. "No, I'm fine Susie, I really am. I'm good, okay?" Mort said with less patience.

However Susie still pushed. "Okay but I can..."

"Holy shit!" Mort was angered now and it seemed to startle Susie who stepped back. "Look I love you, I really really do but Jesus Christ could you please leave me the fuck alone! I need to be by myself some time but with your constant sniffing around and being up my ass 24/7, it's starting to piss me off! And you constantly showing up at my door isn't helping, so give me some fucking space!" Mort stepped back and slammed the door loudly.

He angeredly staggered to his bathroom and stood in the middle of it trying to catch his breath. He was breathing heavily and he needed to release his anger. He looked over to his left and saw his long mirror hanging on the wall. He lifted his leg up and kicked straight through the glass, completely shattering it.

Mort took a deep breath and slumped to the floor. He sat there and closed his eyes as he dragged his hand along the carpeted bathroom floor. He stopped though as his fingers ran across something cold. He opened his eyes and saw it was a shard from the mirror, a very sharp shard. Mort closed his eyes again and talked with himself. He needed help, badly, but what could he do? He had no money or insurance for a doctor which meant no meds. He had no friends he was close enough to vent to. All he had was problems and problems.

But as he reopened his eyes and looked back at the mirror shard he got an idea. He reached over and grabbed the shard and examined it, he saw his reflection in the shard. He let out a shaky sigh and rolled up his sleeve.