Elkay reached for the box of paper tissues, only to find that it was empty. In the space of several hours, he had emptied the entire box and he wasn’t sure whether there were any more boxes lying around. There wasn’t any bathroom paper. That was the first thing Elkay had gone through, after he’d run out of towels trying to clear up puddles of slime and goo. The only thing left was a roll of awful kitchen wipes, but Elkay’s nostrils were already sore and stingy, he didn’t want to make everything even worse.
“Why couldn’t it all just be… alright…”
The need to wipe his nostrils and eyes getting more desperate, Elkay reached for an old stomach wrap and wiped his nostrils on that. He didn’t want to, it was disgusting just how much mucus had come out of him, but Elkay needed to empty his airways, even if it was just brief.
The last few hours had been, as far as Elkay was concerned, fucking horrible. Everything was going wrong. He felt ill, his arms hurt and no matter how much water he drank or food he ate, he was still thirsty and hungry.
Worse, Elkay had made the mistake of reading the news. While he had always hoped that Rethais, the former Vice General and now current High General, would carry on in Elkay’s footsteps, he was becoming more and more worried by the day that Rethais would return to the old, somewhat imperialistic ways of old, while destroying Elkay’s legacy. That hadn’t happened quite yet, but the fact that somevok had gone and burned down part of Elkay’s old house was deeply upsetting. What had upset him more though was that everything that had survived had been packed up and put into storage, probably never to be seen again.
The saddening news had made Elkay need to have another shower, his errant body reacting poorly to the media. But as he climbed into the shower, Elkay had somehow managed to slip and bash his arm on the side, leaving an obvious bruise and a large chunk of porcelain missing from the sink.
Breaking the sink was what finally set Elkay off into a downpour of wails and broken tears. He no longer cared that other beings might hear him and become suspicious. Salty tears ran down Elkay’s face while snot simply oozed from Elkay’s nostrils.
He didn’t care any more. All Elkay wanted was to die, to escape this horrible reality he happened to be born into.
A knock on the door didn’t stop Elkay’s teary downpour. Not at first. It was a very pissed off Teekay standing above him that made Elkay slowly calm down.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“E-everything…” Elkay whimpered, trying to pick himself up and failing miserably. “Everything is horrible and bad and I just want to end it all…”
Teekay left Elkay on the floor and wandered around the apartment, trying to work out what the issue was. Finally, he saw the chip in the bathroom sink and turned back to Elkay, a vaguely annoyed look on his face.
“Are you wailing because you broke the sink?”
“That is just one of many things!” Elkay whimpered some more. “I am fucking worthless. Everything I touch breaks or goes wrong…”
“What, like the massive empire you ran?” Teekay tutted. “You do realise you are being fucking retarded right now, yes?”
Elkay fell silent, still whimpering slightly. He felt more worthless and stupid now. He watched hopelessly as Teekay sighed and walked into the kitchen area, shoving the pile of used tissues into the bin, washing his hands then getting started on dinner.
“I am not angry about the sink, by the way. Piss like that happens. But I do worry that these temper tantrums of yours are getting worse.”
“I have… always been like this. But now it is much worse… I am a pathetic shell of my former self…”
Teekay shrugged. “Yes, so? Just means you need to make yourself better again.”
Elkay sat up straight, feeling incredibly embarrassed. He wiped the last few tears from his eyes, before climbing to his feet and joining Teekay in the kitchen. With a small whimper, he started helping Teekay cut up vegetables and slices of meat.
Teekay glanced at Elkay. They both knew that Teekay was right, that Elkay had made a fool of himself. Teekay didn’t need to tell him again what a fuck up he was. While Elkay continued to chop things up, Teekay reached into the fridge and pulled out a small ice pack, placing it on Elkay’s bruised arm.
“It will get better.”
“I know…”