5 | NOT ALONE
One year later...
Klaus and Luca had been dating for almost a year. Their relationship had flourished and they grew their attraction for one another into a genuine love. However, most of the time they spent together was spent doing drugs. Injecting heroine, swallowing pills and drinking syrupy liquids is all the consisted of their memories together. That still did not erase the fact that they did truly love and care for each other.
Luca had been laying in bed for the whole day, his brain was still trying to recover from the chemical beating it had taken from the night before. Klaus was no where to be found, he hadn't even gone home with Luca the night before— which wasn't unusual as Klaus would always somehow appear back at home.
Luca was growing worried as night crawled upon him and decided to go out and find him. Luca went straight the club they were out the night before— Klaus' favorite club due to its wide variety of available drugs. When Luca arrived, he was greeted with a few familiar faces and the club's music was already blaring. "You're back already?" One faintly familiar face called out.
Luca only smiled and curtly nodded at them all. Most of the people eyeing him were women, all unaware of his sexuality. Luca scurried straight to the bartender. "Have you seen a man named Klaus? He's tall, skinny, kind of pale and lanky." Luca asked over the loud music.
"Yeah, he passed out in the bathroom about half an hour ago. Couldn't wake him up so I left him there." The bartender shrugged.
Luca's face went pale. He bolted to the restroom and found Klaus right where the bartender found him. Klaus was laying sprawled out all over the small bathroom floor. His breathing was heavy and slow, and his lips and fingernails were a deep shade of blue. Luca knew instantly he had overdosed. Luca's throat tightened at the sight and he fought the urge to scream in horror. Luca kept his composure and quickly called the police.
Once he was done calling for help, he quickly cradled Klaus's head in his lap. Hot tears streamed down Luca's face, but he continued trying to stay calm. "You fucking idiot." Luca's words were broken up by his quiet sobs.
Luca ran his hand over Klaus' freezing cold cheek. This was the first time Luca had ever seen Klaus overdose. He knew they both always over did it on the pills, but he never once thought they'd ever get so far deep in trouble.
* * *
In the ambulance, chaos erupted. The paramedics were rapidly and nervously trying to awaken Klaus. They were shouting and the ambulance was racing down the streets so fast it almost spun out of control. The mayhem was overwhelming for Luca and disallowed him to continue keeping calm. Luca dropped to his knees next to Klaus' limp body and began crying waterfalls. Luca began to breathe in a panicked, heaving way and grabbed Klaus' hand.
The paramedics rushed around Luca and injected Klaus with various drugs. All of the injections had no effect until one of the paramedics shocked Klaus with the defibrillator. Klaus shot straight up, his eyes wide and bloodshot and his back erect. Luca gasped, relieved that he was alive. Luca engulfed him in a hug, pressing Klaus' head into his chest. "We're killing ourselves, Klaus. I can't do this anymore." Luca cried.
Klaus was panting, as if he had just ran a marathon.
* * *
After 48 hours of observation in the hospital, Klaus was referred to a rehabilitation center. But, he was allowed to go home for a few days first. Luca had been giving the silent treatment since he had been revived, scared that if he spoke to Klaus like everything was fine he'd return to the practices that had gotten him to overdose before. "You can't ignore me forever!" Klaus shouted at Luca when they were finally home.
Luca turned his head, he didn't dare look Klaus in the eye. "Talk to me! Do something!" Klaus weakly pushed Luca.
"We can't keep doing this." Luca walked away from Klaus. It was the first phrase he had spoken to Klaus since the ambulance.
Klaus was hurt. He knew what they did was wrong. And he knew he was the reason that Luca got addicted to the drugs as well. "I'm sorry! Okay? I'm sorry." Klaus was frustrated. He was conflicted. Luca wasn't speaking to him and showed little reaction to the situation. But, all the while, Klaus' subconscious kept telling him to go get more pills. He was itching and was nearly clawing his eyes out due to the lack of the drugs for the past couple of days. He tried to fight it, but it was so difficult.
It didn't help that as he was growing more sober, random ghosts began popping up and distracting him. One man was screaming, another woman was sobbing, and another little boy was running around shouting random words in a strange language. All of the people Klaus could see, couldn't be seen by any others. And the ghosts were very annoying. Sometimes they were even terrifying.
"I do it so they won't come." Klaus told Luca. And Luca instantly understood. He meant the ghosts. Klaus had told Luca on multiple occasions of the things he'd make Klaus do so that he wouldn't fear the ghosts. Yet, it only intensified his fear of them. Klaus didn't even like to be alone in the dark because it creeped him out.
"You never told me that." Luca felt bad. He, in his mind, had been calling Klaus so many horrible names.
Klaus sighed, a sudden weight laying on his chest. Luca approached him and slipped his arms under Klaus', embracing him. "We'll figure this out, okay?" Luca told Klaus.
Klaus nodded quickly. Luca placed a quick and sweet kiss on Klaus's lips, reassuring that he truly did care for him and making the weight on Klaus' chest lighten for a moment.