DuckTales One-Shots!

Broken and depressed

Louie unlocked the door to his apartment and shut it behind him. He tossed his bags of groceries onto the kitchen counter and sat on his couch. He turned on his TV, but the first thing he saw was something about a young girl receiving a prize in a writing contest. He quickly turned it off and turned on his radio instead. A song had just ended and the DJ was talking about how it released on January 31, 2044. He turned that off, too, and went to his bedroom.

On a writing desk, he etched the words:

Help me, I'm drowning

Under the weight of my memories.

He wasn't much of a poet, but doing this helped a little.

Since he had found out that Lou and Fey had left Duckburg forever last year, he had bought this desk and etched things onto it. Most were sad little tidbits that described what he was feeling; the crushing weight of depression.

He felt a pain in his chest and tears falling from his face. He felt himself beginning to black out again...

Somebody knocked on the door, bringing him out of his spell. He went to the front door and opened it to see his brothers.

"Hi, Louie, how're you doing?" Dewey asked.

Louie gave him a dirty look.

"What did I say? I just asked a simple question."

Huey whispered something to him.

"Okay, never mind, then. Louie, can we come in?"

"Sure," Louie mumbled, allowing his brothers to walk into the apartment.

"Yeesh, I would've figured you'd buy yourself a mansion bigger than Scrooge's was," Dewey commented, looking around. "You're the richest duck in the world now and you've got nothing to show for it. I thought you loved spending money and having expensive stuff."

"I don't want to live like that. I'm not the same lazy-ass I was back when we were kids."

"Speaking of which..."

"No, don't bring anything up. Stop torturing me."

Dewey put the picture of DJ back in his wallet. Huey gave Louie a worried look.

Since Lou was taken away from him on the day of her birth, Louie had let himself go; his hair was a jungle of tangles, he was getting thinner, and his eyes were always watery and surrounded by dark circles.

"Louie, you know we love you, right?" Huey said. "You'd never...hurt yourself, right?"

"What are you saying?"

"I just thought you...might be suicidal."

"Well, why live when there's nothing else to be done?"

"Don't talk like that."

"Think about it; my childhood friend died, a girl I had had a crush on since we were 10 doesn't love me back, I lose my great-uncle, I'm rich and no one wants to be my friend because they think I'm a snob, and my girlfriend left me with our child and we even lost the other half of the twin set. Why shouldn't I kill myself?"

"Because you've got us! We love you, Louie. Killing yourself would make us sad."

"Do you even really care for me?"

"If we didn't, we'd encourage you to kill yourself to collect your money, because we're the next in line," Dewey said.

"Dewey!" Huey yelled, slapping him.

"What? It's fact, we'd collect the money after he died. Right? Or am I wrong?"

"Louie, you've got so much to live for. Maybe you could try remarrying. Or adopt a new kid, or get a dog or cat or manatee, whatever. Just don't think that suicide is the answer."

"I'm nothing without Fey and Lou! I'm gonna kill myself!"

Louie ran into the kitchen and grabbed a large knife. Huey grabbed his arm to keep him from hurting himself.

"Louie, stop it! This isn't the answer!"

"You don't tell me what to do! Shut the hell up, Hubert!"

"We're your brothers, do you really want to make us sad?"

"I don't care, I just want my daughter back!"

"Kill yourself and you won't get her back."

Louie dropped the knife and it cut Huey's leg on the way to the floor. Droplets of blood dripped down.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry," Louie said, backing up.

Huey sat on the couch and brought out a cloth to wrap around his cut.

"Dewey, can you find all the sharp objects around the house and take them out to the car?" he said.

Dewey nodded, and did what he was told to do.

"We don't want you hurting yourself," Huey said to Louie. "We should get you some help, because it sounds like you're getting really depressed."

"I don't need help. I'll be fine."

"You just tried to slit your wrist! That's not okay, that's fricking depression!"

Louie shoved Huey out of his apartment and slammed the door in his face.

"Louie, let me back in!" he shouted. "We need to talk about this!"

"No! Go away and just...leave me alone!"

Louie ran into his bedroom. Dewey had taken a few things out of his bedroom already, including one of Fey's earrings, a shard of emerald that was gifted to him a few years before Lou was born, and an antique garnet statuette with the initials LD and the date 1/31/44 engraved on its base. The small knife he used to etch things into his desk was also gone.

He took out some sticky notes and wrote on one:

There's no purpose in life

For a broken man.

He stuck it to the wall and then collapsed onto his bed.

There was no point in ever leaving it again...