My Control

Chapter Five

It was the pounding that woke him up this time. Still hazy on drugs and half-asleep from lack of water, Perry opened his eyes slowly and immediately looked for Newbie.

The image was still there, sitting against the wall. He had his head of gelled, dark hair leaned back and his eyes were closed.

Perry continued to look around for what the pounding was. It was steady, like a heartbeat. He moved his drugged gaze to where Josh was hammering something into the wall.

"You've been bad again, butterfly," Josh went on calmly. "Shame you slept so long. Poor Josh tried to let you go earlier. I can't have that."

"Josh?" Perry called desperately.

"Not here," Josh sing-songed. He continued to hammer. "Who do you keep looking at over there, Perry?"

Perry jerked at the use of his name.

"I told you that I know your name. You can catch butterflies easier with sugared nets then you can with your fist. Who do you keep looking at?"

Turning his frightful gaze back to Newbie, Perry shook his head. "It's no one."

"I thought as much." Josh walked over and grabbed a hold of Perry's bonds and dragged him to the wall he'd been working on. He raised Perry's arms and hooked them roughly over a crooked nail in the wall.

Immediately not happy with the arrangement, Perry tried to pull his arms back down.

Josh kneed him hard in the ribs. "Stop that." He used the hammer to crook the nail back into the wall, effectively pinning Perry to the surface. "You see, butterfly, when you don't behave like you're supposed to, I have to restrict you even more."

"You sick fuck, let me down," Perry shouted.

"That's no way to treat me, not after I've been so nice," Josh admonished. "If you keep acting like that, I'll have to break something."

Perry knocked his head against the wall behind him. "What else can you possibly break?"

"I do love that arrogance of yours, butterfly." Josh kneeled in front of him and thrust his forearm against the doctor's neck. "But by the time I come back today, you'll beg for the needle." Josh stood and walked out of the room.

Perry struggled to pull the nail from the wall repeatedly, shoving his arms with as much forward momentum as he could muster.

But when he heard a sickening pop and felt bright stars of pain shoot over his right shoulder, he stopped.

Sighing brokenly, Perry sat still on his knees. His shoulder was dislocated.

Newbie shook his head plaintively, still saying nothing. But when the edges of his body became blurry again, Perry felt white terror rip through his body.

"Newbie, damn it…don't leave me here alone! You can't!" Perry shouted. "You're supposed to care, you lovesick puppy! All you ever do is follow me around; you have to stay here now!"

Only shaking his head as the edges of the hallucination blurred more, Newbie sighed and gave Perry a broken look of his own.

And when Newbie disappeared all together, Perry let out a keening howl of desolation into the empty room as his body began to shake uncontrollably.

XXXXXXXXX

It began to rain that night; a torrential pouring from the skies that soaked everything.

Perry rested his head against the wall, mumbling incoherently. A drip of water had started to periodically splat on his head.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Josh entered the room that night with only two friends in two this time around. He passed a large wad of cash to one, and the other handed him two freezer bags.

"You want to stay?" Josh asked.

One agreed, the other declined.

"You've met this guy, right?" Josh asked, gesturing to Perry in the corner of the room.

"Yeah. That guy you got from the hospital."

Josh nodded proudly. "My butterfly, man. Look at him; he's even more so now then he was the first night he was here."

True enough, Perry was twitching beneath his bonds. His hair was soaked, and his eyes were cloudy.

"Give me the drugs," Perry whispered hoarsely.

Josh raised an eyebrow. "Really. I thought you…how'd you put it? You don't "do that bullshit", I believe?"

Perry looked up at him. "Give it to me."

"Why should I? You have been so very rude. And what on earth have you done to your shoulder, butterfly?"

"I'm not going to beg, jerk-off."

"Then I suppose it's not that important to you." Josh turned and lit the fire in the middle of the room.

Perry stared at Newbie's wall, willing the young man to reappear. He didn't. Perry struggled his good arm against the bonds again.

Josh turned at the scuffle of noise. "You're just going to hurt yourself doing that. You've only got one good shoulder as it is, butterfly."

"Then let me down," Perry muttered through gritted teeth.

"Maybe." Josh turned back to his friend and ignored the rantings that began to fly from Perry's mouth.

Half an hour later, Perry was quiet again, if only because his voice had finally given out under the shouting and screaming.

Josh finally turned back to him as his friend left. "You ready to be good now, butterfly?"

Perry didn't respond and only gave him a dejected look. "My friend's gone away, and I don't see him without whatever you're giving me. Would you just give it to me and do whatever it is sadomasochists like you do?"

Josh tapped a finger on his chin as if thinking. He debated for a few minutes and finally used the hammer to unwrap the nail from the wall.

Perry collapsed to the floor, face first. He didn't care what he might have landed in as Josh turned him over.

"What are you seeing over there?"

"A friend."

"Your friend have a name, butterfly?"

"Newbie."

"Odd name for a friend," Josh said casually as he filled a syringe. He inserted it into Perry's elbow. "But then again, you're the one who's acting crazy now, butterfly."

The thought was lost upon Perry as Newbie slowly appeared again on the opposite side of the room.

Josh took a knife out again and pinned one of Perry's arms down with his knee. "After this, you'll really be my butterfly."

Perry hazily felt the knife trickling over his hand, but felt little pain above the drug-induced fog. Josh frowned at that as he watched the man beneath him staring blindly at the blank wall.

Josh pulled out the lighter again and heard a whimper escape the man beneath him.

"Not good enough, butterfly." Pushing harder on Perry's forearm with knee, a satisfying crack hit the air and the doctor let out an animalistic howl of pain.

Josh stood, swiping his hands together as if congratulating himself on a job well done.

"That's more like it." Josh turned to tend to his own drug needs as Perry rolled in the floor in pained misery.

Hours later when Josh had fallen asleep, Perry still stared at the wall where Newbie sat.

Don't give up. Don't give up.

Perry began repeating it in his own head over and over, but he still crawled to Josh's bag to pull out another needle when Newbie's body began to fade out again.

XXXXXXXXX

JD steadily watched the rain fall. He hadn't yet mustered up the courage to try and go into the burned-out building himself. He didn't know the condition of the floors and stairs, and didn't even know where in the building Andrews would be holding him.

He leaned his forehead against the glass of the window and got to his feet. He slipped on a hooded sweatshirt and grabbed his keys.

Turk looked up when JD entered the room and headed for the door. "Where you goin', JD?"

"Out." JD locked the door behind him before Turk could ask. He headed for the stairs.

Outside, the rain was warm and humid, but promised cooler air once it was done. JD lifted his head to the skies, letting the water wash over his tired face and weary eyes.

It was all in front of him, the entire situation making sense with crystal-shaded clarity. He glared at the condemned building across the street. No matter how much he watched the building, he never caught Josh Andrews coming in or out.

There were only three floors left of it, now that JD inspected it more. A few windows were on both floors, and he suspected there was probably a basement. The second floor still retained some moderate amount of roofing, whereas the third was completely open to the sky.

JD felt the water beginning to soak through his hoodie. He shoved his hands into the front pocket, staring hard at the building. No matter how much he wanted to, he just couldn't make himself take a step forward.

For one, there was the matter of how weak the dilapidated building was. Item two was that JD didn't know how many people were in there, let alone what kind of mental state they were in. And lastly, even if he did have the balls to try, he doubted very much that he could convince Carla, Turk, or Elliot to help him.

Sitting on the front stairs, JD continued to stare. He saw a fire start in one of the windows, and saw a shadow pass in front of it.

JD sighed. It wasn't clear enough for him to identify anything. Taking a deep breath and gathering courage, JD pulled the hood over his hair and walked across the street to peer through one of the windows.

When he got there, the window was higher than he'd realized. He looked around and found a broken crate in the narrow alley beside the building. Jerking it under the window, he quietly balanced on it to stare into the window.

His heart stopped and he nearly fell off the crate. That was Perry, shirtless and exposed with a vulnerable look on his face.

JD felt the crate teeter slightly beneath his feet, but managed for once in his life to regain his balance.

His mentor lay on the floor, hands and feet bound tightly. Josh Andrews sat at the fire, burning his own hands methodically.

I knew it. Now they'll have to believe me.

JD pushed a hand against the window gently, willing Perry to stay awake and be okay. Even through the window, JD could see a broken arm and a dislocated shoulder. There was way too much red in the man's skin.

JD finally got off the crate and pulled his cell phone out. "Hey, Dr. Dorian here. Get Lieutenant Renicki on the phone. I don't care if he won't talk to me; put the guy on the phone!"

"What is it, Dr. Dorian?"

"I'll tell you what it is. I'm looking in the window of the crackhouse on my street at your suspect. Now will you come and arrest this guy? Please? Dr. Cox is hurt."

The phone clicked off immediately as lightening streaked across the sky.

"Hello?" JD asked. "Hello?" He peered through the window again. "Shit," he swore sharply and hid in the alley as Josh stood to have a look around.

Josh heard the sound outside the building and glanced at his watch. It was time for him to leave out again anyway. Clients meant money, which translated to more drugs, which translated to him having control longer.

Grabbing his messenger bag, he walked over to Perry's twitching body. "Mercy, butterfly?"

Perry whimpered into the ground and nodded.

"Just this once." Josh injected him again, threw the syringe away, and left the apartment building.

Watching carefully from the alley, JD watched Josh walk away with a black messenger bag over his shoulder.

JD carefully weighed the pros and cons like any mature responsible adult whose…something was in trouble.

His face took on something unnamable almost instantly.

Fuck that.

Continues with Chapter 6