Sober (A Septiplier Story)

Chapter 13: Bad Dreams

Warning: Drug use

(Third Person POV)

"Baby, look at the camera."

Jack turned towards the camera and stuck his tongue out at the same time the camera flashed. Lydia pulled out the printed picture and shook it a few times before throwing it on the pile behind her.

"Now take a serious one, look smoldering." Jack looked back into the lens and pulled his best Flynn Rider face. She snapped a photo, grinning with satisfaction. She added the printed photo to the pile. Jack took her arm and pulled her into his lap, kissing her deeply while quietly taking the camera from her hands. He pulled away and quickly took a photo of Lydia, catching her off guard.

"What the hell?"

"Now I am the photographer." He declared, raising the camera to his eye. Lydia flipped her hair and pouted her lips, attempting to look sexy. The photo printed and Jack added it to Lydia's pile.

"No more baby, I need to medicate." Jack put down the camera and sat back against the couch cushions. Lydia pulled out a small mirror, a razor blade, and a small packet of white powder, laying them on the table.

"Lydia, what the fuck are you doing?"

"Kyle gave me some good shit from Columbia, you want to try it?"

"No." Jack said firmly. Lydia shrugged and continued her task, creating even lines of the powder with the razor blade. Then, she pulled a dollar bill out of her pocket and rolled it tightly. She placed the rolled dollar in her nose and snorted a line. She leaned back with her eyes closed, sniffling.

"Lydia, you okay?"

Lydia opened her eyes and smiled widely. "I'm flying baby, come fly with me! We can fly to the moon and build a house made out of moon rocks and our babies will be born on the moon and be better than other children and..."

"Lydia! Take a deep breath, you are talking so fast."

Lydia kept talking and talking, her words turning to run together gibberish and her face turning purple. Jack put his hands on her shoulders and shook her while screaming her name.

(Jack's POV)

"Jack! Jack!" I sat straight up, gasping for air. My throat was burning and my head was pounding. "Jack?"

I whipped my head towards the voice, coming face to face with Mark's wrinkled with worry. I hugged him, sobbing into his shoulder. He shushed me and rubbed soothing circles on my back.

"It's okay, Jack, it's okay, it was just a bad dream." I took a deep breath, trying to stop crying. Mark held me until I stopped shaking. He held me at arm's length. "Are you okay now Jackaboy?"

I sniffled and nodded. Mark laid down and I laid with him, my back to his front. He kissed the back of my head, "Try to sleep." He whispered. I closed my eyes, but all I could see was Lydia. She was in trouble and I wanted to help her. Mark started gently snoring, letting me know he had fallen back to sleep. I laid awake, staring at the wall, thinking about Lydia. I didn't love her, but I still cared for her and I worried about her more and more each day. I tried calling and texting her but she never answered.

When I was finally able to fall asleep, it was filled with images of Lydia. When the alarm blared in the morning, I felt as if I hadn't slept a minute. Mark was already gone to work, leaving me alone. Today was my day off and I was going to catch up on some e-mails and such, but I decided that I needed to see Lydia and make sure she was okay. I knew of three places she regulated, so I would start there. I called to order a car and quickly got dressed before leaving on an adventure that was leading me to God knows what.

(Mark's POV)

Due to Game hub having a huge sale, the store was actually packed with people, keeping me busy during my entire shift. When the store finally closed for the night, I was exhausted. I was clocking out in the break room when I felt a tap on my shoulder.

"Hey Mark, I was wondering if you had any plans tonight?" Olivia looked up at me, batting her eyelashes.

"Uh, no, I was just going to sleep." She giggled.

"Well, a couple of friends of mine from school are going out for drinks, want to come?"

"No, actually I am three months sober."

"Wow, that's fantastic Mark! How about a cup of coffee before I meet them?" She was looking up at me with puppy dog eyes, silently begging me to say yes.

I sighed, "Sure, what the hell."

She jumped up and down clapping her hands like a game show contestant. "Yes! Alright let's go!"

We walked down the street to the coffee shop, her talking the entire way and me just nodding along. We took our orders and sat at a table in the corner.

"I'm so happy you came out with me Mark, I've been wanting to get to know you better for so long."

"Uh, yeah of course. So what are you going to school for?"

"I'm undeclared for now, so I am just getting my core classes out of the way."

"Sweet"

"Did you go to college?"

"Uh, yeah, I went to school to be an engineer but I dropped out to be an actor."

"How is that going?"

"It's not right now, I'm taking care of..."

"Do you have a girlfriend?" she blurted, interrupting me.

I was shocked, I noticed her checking me out a few times, but she's just a kid. "Uh, no I don't have a girlfriend." Her face got really excited, "but I have a boyfriend." Her face fell, turning sour.

"Oh, I see. Listen, I have to get going, I will see you at work." She got up and practically flew out of the shop. I stared after her, dumbfounded. Once the shock wore off, I gathered my things and started the short walk home. I sent Jack a quick text.

M: Just had a really weird encounter with Olivia, see you soon xoxo

Jack didn't answer by the time I got home, so I went up to my room and changed into my pajamas before sneaking over to his room. I lightly tapped the door and walked in, except his room was empty. The lights were off and the bed was made, revealing he hadn't been here all day.

M: Jack where are you?

I went back to my room and sat on the bed, staring at my phone waiting for Jack to write back. After a while, I tried calling him, but it went straight to voicemail. I threw my phone across the bed, cursing under my breath. I could tell something was up, I just had no idea what. Just then, Matt came in.

"Hey man what's up?" Matt flopped on the bed.

"Have you seen or heard from Jack today?"

"Um, no actually I haven't seen him since last night."

"Damn, he's not answering his phone and he hasn't been home all day, I hope he's okay."

"If you're too worried, go tell Nina."

"I'm going to wait on that, I will wait until the morning."

"Okay, man, goodnight." Matt flicked off his lamp and rolled towards the wall.

"Goodnight." I turned off my lamp and tried to sleep, praying Jack was okay.

A/N Now that my birthday festivities are over and I got over my short bout of writers block, here is the next chapter! It's more of a filler chapter, but it's leading to something bigger.

Also, thank you all so much for over 350 on this story! That's really awesome!

Thank you all so much for reading and I will see you in the next chapter!