Reid
Dr Mercy left without finishing off her wine, so I finished it off for her, marvelling at how stiff my dick went at the thought of my lips on her lipstick mark. Shit, I’m like a pubescent school boy around that woman.
“That’s the last customer out,” Akilah says, shutting and bolting the door behind him.
“Okay, Akilah. You get yourself to bed. It’s late.” With my eyes out of focus from the last three drinks I had, I check my watch and notice that it’s now well after one. That’s probably the latest we’ve finished on a weekday before. I smile. Things are definitely improving.
“Goodnight then, brother,” Akilah says, waving at me before walking towards the back staff exit.
“Goodnight,” I answer before downing the rest of my drink in one swallow. I’ve had one beer, half a glass of red wine, and two shots of whisky, and I’m steaming fucking drunk. I guess this is the reason why Mercy told me not to drink.
“I’m begging you for mercy,” I start singing to no one. I start laughing so hard I nearly fall off my stool. Fuck, I’m wasted.
As I right myself, I decide that maybe I should go to bed and sleep this off. With the decision made, I stumble off my stool and practically use the edges to get around the bar. I walk out back, or rather ping-pong from one side of the doorway to the other before reaching my hand out to the staircase banister. Whatever these pills are, they’re strong. I don’t think I’ve ever been this drunk.
As I perceive it, the stairs are starting to move like an escalator, and I laugh loudly as my attempts to climb them seem to take longer than necessary. I keep thinking they’re going up, but each time I step onto one, I believe I’m seeing it go down. It’s the funniest shit I’ve seen in ages.
As I reach my room and close the door, I don’t even have time to undress myself before I crash onto my bed face first and pass out.
I’m not sure how long it is that I’m asleep for, but I awake suddenly with a jolt. I swear I just heard a crash. Immediately, I hear another one, confirming my suspicions.
Again, thinking it could be burglars, I moan as I get up from my bed and stumble towards my baseball bat. My head is still really woozy, so I shake it off, trying to focus on the task at hand.
I open the door, making my way down the stairs as quickly and as carefully as possible, so I don’t fucking fall over and hit my head. I hear another crash, and that’s when my heart rate really picks up. When I reach the bottom of the stairs, I see through the bar door, but nothing comes out at me as looking unusual. Everything’s quiet, and the only light is the normal dim light around the bar area that I keep on every night.
Once I step through, I notice glass on the floor, but no one is here. I ease myself around the bar, bat poised and ready to strike. One by one, I search every room in every nook and cranny, but there’s no one here.
Thinking it’s just a glass Akilah forgot to put away safely, I loosen my tight grip of the bat a little and walk around the bar. I place the bat down on the bar before picking up the glass and throwing it in the glass recycling bin. Afterwards, I rub my eyes. I’m still so fucking sleepy. In fact, these pills I’m taking are constantly making me tired. I know I haven’t had any of the hallucinations and shit since taking them, but I’m like a walking zombie half the time.
As I lazily step through the door to go back to bed, I hear another crash behind me. I freeze, my eyes widening as my heart starts its frantic racing. I turn, wondering what the fuck’s going on, and that’s when I almost shit myself.
One by one—out of nowhere—glass after glass goes shooting across the bar, landing on the floor.
“Reid,” I hear, echoing round the bar. “Why did you kill me, Reid?”
When the glasses get nearer and nearer to where I’m standing, I finally flee. For the first time, I’m scared shitless at the thought of being in my own bar.
Grabbing my coat and car keys, I race out the back exit, still hearing the crashes of glass behind me. I don’t look back as I race towards my car. I left my personal phone upstairs, but I always keep a spare work’s mobile in the glove compartment of my car just in case. Locking myself in, I start the car and haul arse out of the car park, driving just a few minutes towards a desolate area where I can lay my head.
When I park up and switch my engine off, all I can see is black outside. It looks sinister, but I’d take this over going back to that fucking bar again any day. With a shaking hand, I grab my phone and frantically start looking for Dr Mercy’s number. I light the phone up, noticing it’s almost four in the morning, but I don’t care. I press the CALL button and wait, biting my thumbnail as I hear it ringing.
On the sixth ring, she answers with a groggily hello. “Dr Mercy, she’s after me! She’s making me suffer. I can’t take this anymore! I thought these pills were meant to make me better?!”
“Reece, Reece, calm down. You’re getting way ahead of yourself here. Take a couple of deep breaths and start from the beginning.”
So, I do. I tell her everything apart from my drinking. I can’t get away with hiding anything from her, though.
“Did you carry on drinking after I left?” When I don’t answer straight away, she says, “Reece, come on now. Tell me the truth.”
“Okay,” I say with frustration. “I had a couple more after you left.”
“What have I told you about drinking while on those tablets?”
“I know,” I answer, banging my fist against the dash board. “I don’t like taking them, though. They make me groggy.”
“Yes, but they also help. Remember, I had to bail you out last night, putting the responsibility of your welfare all on my shoulders.”
I swallow, immediately feeling guilty. “I’m sorry.”
I hear her sigh. “Do you want me to meet you?”
A massive part of me wants to say yes, but I also don’t want to waste her time. The selfish part, however, wins out. “Yes.”
“Tell me where you are.”
I give her the instructions of where I am before hanging up. She asked me to give her an hour, so I use that time to try and calm myself. Putting the radio on, I slink back in my chair and close my eyes as Ciara’s “Paint it Black” softly plays in the background. Little by little, my heart rate slows down, and little by little, I feel myself slipping back into unconsciousness.
When I suddenly wake with a start, it’s light outside. I blink, rubbing my eyes and stretching my limbs. I check the time on the dashboard and see that it’s well after nine. Shit, where has the time gone?
I think back to last night, and it’s then I remember that I called Dr Mercy, but she never came. I get out of the car, stretching, and when I walk towards some bushes to have a slash, I notice another car nearby. Dr Mercy’s car.
Abandoning my toilet needs, I walk up to her car and notice her fast asleep in her seat. I smile.
She came for me. It is at this point I think of her name. She is no longer just my doctor. She has done more for me than any other would have. In fact, ironically, she has shown me mercy when no one else would have. So, that is who she will be to me from now on. My Mercy.
Still smiling, I knock on her window, making her jump. I place my hands out calmingly. “It’s only me.”
She pulls her jacket down from over her before opening her car door. She looks a little dishevelled, and her eyes look red and sore. “Reece,” she says with a croak in her voice.
“How long have you been here?” I ask.
“Since around five. I saw you were fast asleep and didn’t want to disturb you. I didn’t want to leave you either, so I decided to wait in my car until you woke up. I think I waited so long that I ended up falling asleep myself.”
My dead heart swells at the news. “I’m really sorry about all this. You’re going above and beyond. I know I keep saying it, but I don’t how I can thank you.”
I watch as she digs deep into her jeans pocket and pulls out a small tub of tablets. “You can start by keeping with the tablets, laying off the alcohol completely, and,” she says, handing me the pills, “start taking these.”
“What are they?”
“They’re a natural herbal remedy to help you feel calm. Perfectly safe.”
I study the small white pill box but there’s nothing on them to say what they are. She is the doctor after all, so I trust whatever it is will be safe. I pocket them, nodding my head. “It’s a done deal,” I say, smiling.
“Good.” She sighs, and then looks around the baron dirt track we’ve been on for the last few hours. “Fancy some breakfast?” she asks. “I’m starving.”
I chuckle. “Come on. Let’s get back to my bar. I’ll get you some breakfast there.”
She looks a little serious when she says, “Maybe that would be a good idea. You said glasses were falling off the shelves. We need to check on that.”
Feeling nervous, I nod. I know I need to go back there and look for myself, but I’m scared to. I was kind of hoping to bypass going in the bar and just take Mercy up to my room. I guess I have to face it sometime. Why not now? The fact that she’ll be with me makes me feel better about it anyway.
“Okay. Let’s go.”