Page 44 of Darkness

Cain

How the fuckdid he even get in here? The place has the same security system as my place. Only someone with prints in the system can get in here.

Scanning my thumb, the door opens and before I even take a step in, I can smell the alcohol and weed. Walking through the door, I take a look around to see the chairs, which were once around the dining table, thrown across the room, two of them are now broken. He really has taken it out on this room. No wonder the guy came up here to see what was happening.

Shaking my head, how did I forget? I should have been with him today. I would have stopped it before it got out of hand for him. Talking about it would have been enough to keep him going over the edge.

“Lincoln!” I shout, not seeing him in the living room. I hope he’s fucking sleeping. I hear a shout and glass shattering. Shit. I guess he’s not sleeping then.

Walking into the bedroom, I see Lincoln on the floor with a broken mirror around him.

Shit, he’s bleeding, too.

Fuck.

“Come on, man, let’s get you in the shower.” I kneel beside him, wrapping his arm around my shoulder. I manage to get him up.

“It’s my fault. I’m a bad man.” Lincoln starts crying. “I should-”

“Come on.” I stop him from talking. Every year he does this, every year he blames himself. “Sit here.” I close the toilet seat and sit him down while I get the shower running.

Grabbing the first aid box from under the sink, I get the tweezers out so I can start removing some of the mirror pieces from the cuts on his arms and fucking face.

“Man, I’m hor-”

“No, you’re not. Now stop thinking like that.” I check over his face to make sure I’ve got the pieces out, quickly grabbing him before he falls off the seat. I slap his face a few times. “Hey, are you with me?” I ask him. “Lincoln?”

“How…how are you here?” Lincoln asks through tears, again.

I’ll get the rest of the pieces out after. I need to get him in the shower first, making sure the water is cold, I wrap his arms over my shoulder again and getting him into the shower. I should have brought some clothes with me, but I get out of the shower before my clothes get too wet.

Lincoln slides down and sits under the water, and I get back out to his bedroom and clean up the broken mirror and sort the room back out. Within the next ten minutes, he will most likely wake up and get back to normal, well normal-ish. This isn’t my first time doing this, and it won’t be my last time either.

Picking up all the pictures from the bed, I put them back into the box, and get to cleaning the rest of the room, and the living room. He really did fuck himself up tonight. Walking around, putting the empty beer bottles and whiskey bottles on the dining table. How the fuck is that man even awake with the amount he’s been drinking?

He blames himself, and no matter what I say to him, he will always blame himself for what happened. Yet I blame myself for losing Tess every day, so I can’t say much to him. I know how he feels.

Finishing in the bedroom, I get to the sitting area and get things cleaned up. I put the chairs in the corner so we can take them to the dump. Standing by the coffee table, I look at all the joints and I shake my head.

Note to self, don’t say anything to him. I’m here for him to talk to. I clean everything up and go to the kitchen to make myself some coffee. I wait for Lincoln to get out of the bathroom.

Looking around his apartment, I remember when Lincoln first got this place. I still don’t know why he bought it. He already has a house, but then again, this is also something I can’t say much about, because he would say exactly the same thing to me.

But yet looking for an apartment for him, all I can say is the man is fucking picky with what he wants in a place. There was always something wrong with the places he looked at. I even got to the point and told him to go to his house and stay there, but the man hasn’t set foot in that place since he came out of The Pit.

I look over towards the bedroom when I hear the door open, and see Lincoln walking towards me, still looking like shit. Handing him a bottle of water and leaning on the counter in front of me.

“You didn’t have to clean up.” Lincoln looks around the place.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here,” I tell him. There is nothing else I can say.

“You don’t need-”

“Yes, I do. You know I’d drop anything I have planned if you call.” I walk over to the couch and sit down, and look out the window, leaving the TV off. “You need to go visit them.”

“Like you’ve visited, Tess?” he asks, and I turn to face him a little. “It’s my fault they are dead. How do I tell them I’m sorry?” I shake my head at him. What the fuck is he talking about?

“You were on duty for the country. How can you save them when you are in a different country?” I ask him.

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