Detoxing is a Bitch

Posted on Sunday May 12th, 2019 @ 21:59 hours by Ares Onasis & Colt McCormick

Mission: Pixie Dust
Location: Mess Hall
Timeline: MD02 - 2100 Hours
1675 words - 3.4 OF Standard Post Measure

[ON]

Ares leaned back against the chair facing the large windows to space. Her body was exhausted, her mind was a wreck, yet she couldn’t sleep. She was in full detox mode as she really began processing what happened during her hallucination. The wedding ring felt cold against her dehydrated skin. Ares looked like a skeleton of what she once was; her eyes were sunken in and her olive skin was dull and brittle. All she could see out in space was Adam, with his boyish smile and sparkling blue eyes smiling back at her, holding her close in a warm embrace to let her know she would always be safe with him.

Getting the time to recover from the events of the last two days, Ares let her mind wander back to Greece and what Adam had told her. After witnessing everyone else go through hallucinations, she had come to the conclusion that it was her subconscious that had manifested Adam’s words. He told her that it was okay to move on. He knew she liked Colt, and he saw how much Colt cared for her. Adam had never met Colt and Colt was never in her hallucination. The truth was Ares was giving herself permission to take control of her life and move on from the torment and the pain her past brought her. What she had been running away from had been thrown right in her face. This was exactly what Ares needed. She needed to face her pain and take it so she can finally recover and regain the life she almost lost.

“How you doin’ there, Kid?”

Ares turned her chair slightly to face Colt, standing there with a couple of bottled waters and a hypospray. She gave him a weak grin as she nodded her head towards the empty chair across the table from her.

His heart sank as he watched her slow movements. She was a ghost of what she was when he first saw her. Her long curls were limp as they fell past her shoulders and her dark brown eyes darkened to a deathly black. He had witnessed this with many of his girls, the ones caught up in the glitz and glamour of recreational drugs with the more unscrupulous customers while working at his club, but had never seen someone go through an emotional detox. Ares was young and already a widow. He had never come close to that type of connection with a woman and never knew how much he missed it until he met the feisty and hilarious and bold and insanely smokin’ hot Greek woman. But he couldn’t do anything about it. He knew nothing. All he could do was just sit down and let her talk. She was a solemn and secretive woman. Would she spill her heartache or keep it all to herself?

Ares eyes drifted back to the window. “You ever feel so lost that you would do anything, and I mean anything to get it back?” Her thumb touching the tip of each finger in an effort to hide her jitters from him.

Colt shook his head slowly, keeping his eyes on her profile.

Ares looked down at her ring and began fiddling with it. “I couldn’t do anything,” she felt her voice shake, as it did when she talk to May the night before. She was sure that she’d be tossed out at the next port. Her facade of strength was crumbling. “Just the two hours before shift he was down on one knee asking me to marry him, and the next…” She looked down, clenching her fist tight enough to feel her stubby nails digging into her palm.

Engaged! Colt immediately thought, but felt sick from the excitement that came with the news. His mind had tried to lessen the bond of her relationship with the man in order to boost his own confidence in his chances of starting a relationship with her. A relationship was a relationship no matter what the label was. They had planned on spending the rest of their life together except for the man’s untimely death.

“I can honestly tell you after my hallucination if Droz had drug me out earlier without giving me a chance to say goodbye to him I probably would’ve killed myself.”

The comment sent a chill up Adam’s spine. She was so direct and unemotional and haunting with her admission. She said it as if she was stating what she was going to be having for dinner. He believed her. He remained quiet as his eyes dropped slightly, feeling unsure about his next move. So he remained quiet.

“It was a criminal who took him out. He was the best cop I knew. I learned everything I know from him.” Ares continued, still focused on the stars the moved alongside the ship. “I met him during my teens when I started accosting other kids at my school and shaking them down. Naturally after his death I fell into my old habits.”

“Instead of shaking down kids you shook down adults,” Colt continued for her, putting two and two together from their first real conversation together. “The ones who took your fiancé away from you.”

Ares turned to Colt, feeling the regret of how she described their relationship. “I never gave him an answer. I wanted to wait until after our shift to tell him yes.”

A stake went through Colt’s heart. She was peeling back her layers and revealing just how vulnerable she truly was. There was so much to her and he was falling for her more and more. He had almost lost his life almost 10 years before when he was stabbed in his side by an angry customer. He still had the scar reminding him. Yet he still was mentally unable to put himself in her shoes. He just couldn’t fathom leaving someone behind like that. There was nothing he could say. ‘I’m sorry’ just felt so empty and worthless and almost demeaning. So he said nothing. He just stared at her, wanting to wrap his arms around her and hold her and kiss her gently on the lips and tell her that he would make sure nothing happened to her. He would be there for her no matter what. And it was true. He had only met her the night before and never considered marriage until now. He decided right then that he couldn’t be without her. There was no one else out there like her.

Looking down, she finally noticed the hypospray and furrowed her eyebrows. “What’s that?”

Colt let out a sigh, pushing it closer to her. “Painkillers. Figured it would help you get through your detox.” He hadn’t mentioned her extensive bag full of drugs that were obviously not prescribed to her by a medical professional. But he was all too familiar with what detoxing looked like on someone.

Ares looked up at him, and let off a slightly amused scoff. There was no judgement behind his voice. This was his way of letting her know he knew she had a problem and that he understood that she was going to be working on it. “I need to suffer through. You can use it as a reminder if I ever threaten to slip up. Though I feel like I’m going to puke and my body may fall apart in front of you. They weren’t making my pain go away. They just made things worse. I appreciate the gesture though.”

“Of course, Sweetheart,” Colt gave her a half smile. “What’s your plan now?”

Ares shrugges. She honestly didn’t know. “I backhanded the Captain last night so I’m more than likely going to be disposed of at the next port.”

Colt’s stomach tightened, making him nervous about Ares. She was a lightning bolt ready to strike at any minute. Though he half-suspected her body being full of drugs had a major influence on that action. There had to have been a good reason for her to have snapped. “What happened?”

“Oh,” Ares started off with a sigh, “we were drinking and I was hopped up on amphetamines and she made a comment essentially called me a slut and so I hit her.”

Jesus Christ, Colt thought as his eyes widened slightly in surprise. Ares was an incredibly prideful person, and she had been in so much pain and at the bottom of a well after going through her life up until this point. He could see why she would have reacted that way. “You know, you can always come with me if you don’t have anywhere to go. You can help me run my business.” His smile widened in comfort. “The girls would love you.” He would love her too.

Ares couldn’t help but smile back at him. He was a total stranger and now he was offering her comfort and security, just like Adam did. “In my hallucination, Adam told me that he loved me and he wanted me to be happy. He also told me that he knew I really liked you and that you would take care of me.”

Colt was just going through an emotional rollercoaster. He had gone from sad to concerned to nervous to excited now. Her hallucination had woken her up to her subconscious and made her aware of her true feelings. He gave her a slight chuckle, not wanting to put any pressure on her by making a romantic move towards her. “I’m here for you, whatever you need. I still have a while until we get to my destination. You can borrow any one of my books without worry about returning them.”

Ares laughed as she looked back out into space. She was going to be alright.

[OFF]

Ares Onasis
Quartermaster

&

Colt McCormick
Passenger
(as written by Ares Onasis)

S.S. FAWKES