Content Warning: This work contains Suicidal Ideation.
Clack, Clink. The front doors lock jiggles and clicks against the pressure of intrusion quietly, while the residents. High and resting on the second floor, above the brewing storm beneath. Dual addicts Ferro and Cyan lay blissful in each other's arms, their faces marked with contentment over the path they are heading down together. Beneath them, the lock turns and the door opens. Key taken back from its depths
This was no break in. The finely dressed white Verling man, flanked by his towering sharkish Aquilion bodyguard had every right to be here. But a key marked ownership, not invitation. And what would come to pass was about ownership, nothing more.
“I think someone is downstairs…” Ferro whispers to their partner as they start to come to their senses. Cyan however, can barely even sit up in his bed before the door into his bedroom swings open.
Cyan’s father stood in the doorway, fuming, “I knew I could never leave you to your own devices, Cyanide! The unclean state of this property was one thing. But now I catch you eloping with another man!”
Cyan stood up, “They're not a man and their name is Ferro! You better get used to them cause I plan to keep them around!”
Cyan’s father leans in to inspect Cyan. “You’re on that poison again, aren’t you. You never speak back to me otherwise,” He turns his back to Cyan. Propping himself up against the doorway while tilting his head towards his bodyguard, “Bring my son, Ducol. We’ll find a way to purge the poison from his head.”
The bodyguard grabbed Cyan by the wrist, beginning to escort him out. Ferro went to stop them but before they could tell what was going on, they were layed flat on the floor. Head aching from where the guard hit them, and darkness overcoming their vision.
~~~~~~~~~
The beachhouse overlooking the lake stayed empty for a week. Save for a few visits from a desperate Ferro trying to figure out where Cyan was taken. They eventually found a break.
In front of Ferro was the tall iron wrought fence surrounding the boxy concrete exterior of a state of the art rehab facility. Now Ferro wasn’t exactly invited, but they would not let that stop them. Paw over paw, feet scrambling to find footholds. They did their best to climb the fence. Their arms scraped against the cold metal as they tried to pass its peak. This was certainly out of their wheelhouse, they were no adventurer.
From the top of the fence, they glimpsed Cyan through the second floor balcony of his room. A fire lit up again in Ferro’s chest and they soldered on climbing down the rest of the fence into the compound.
Moving up to the wall below Cyan’s room, they whispered, “Can you hear me? Cyan?”
No response. It seems that Ferro was to climb a balcony to meet Cyan again, just like the day they met. The wall of the facility proved easier to climb. Decorative grooves on the concrete surface made for easy holds. When they reached the balcony's edge, Cyan was standing right there, as if waiting for them.
“Hi, Ferro…” Cyan said mutely.
“Cyan, it’s so good to see you!” Ferro quickly hopped over the edge and moved in for a hug, But Cyan held his arm out, keeping them at distance.
“What are you doing here, Ferro?”
“What do you mean? I’m here to rescue you! We’re going to run off together, right?” Ferro was becoming increasingly confused at Cyan.
“Ferro, do you remember when I told you I wished I could be clean from Black Powder, but it was impossible for me?”
“Sure, that was the night after we met…”
“I think it might be possible for me to get clean now. I think you should leave Ferro. My father said he’d find a way to tear down the Driftwood if I ever spoke to you again”
Ferro’s confusion twisted at that. Resolving and galvanizing into pure upset anger. “So what? You’re just gonna do whatever your father tells you now! They were grasping at anything. “We could be together Cyan, no matter how brief! Isn’t that what we wanted?”
Cyan lets out a long sigh. “What do you really know about me, Ferro? Cause I don’t really know much about you.” Cyans voice wavers a bit, “What I do know is you're miserable, just like me. And want to cover that with anything you can. Drugs, sex, anything.” Cyan turns his back to Ferro, “If we were to just hang out without any of the drugs or bad decisions, would you want to do that, Ferro?”
Ferro tripped over their response, “I mean, uhhh-”
“Let’s just say what was always unspoken between us,” Cyan wipes his face. “I wanted someone to kill myself with, and it seemed like you wanted the same thing.” Cyan pauses a moment before continuing, “But it’s different now. I’m not going to run off with you and overdose like some kind of romantic tragedy…”
Ferro was silent for a good long while. The bluntness of the statement hitting them like a ton of bricks. Their anger was fading, replaced with something far more foundational and insipid. Fear. Fear that this was the end for them and Cyan. And a far deeper fear that they would have to die truly and completely alone. They had to say anything…
“Don’t you love me?” Ferro finally muttered.
“Enough to tell you no.” Cyan mutters as he walks to the end of the room. Passing through the door and closing it behind him.
