Diamond in the Rough

There's a jackhammer drilling somewhere inside his head, piercing his skull with an unbearable screech. Jem cracks one bloodshot eye open and takes a long look at his surroundings. He's not in his own house. He struggles to sit up and feels a wave of sickness bubble in the pit of his stomach as he tries to remember what happened last night. He remembers playing pool with Gloansy and throwing back Jameson's and beers. He remembers calling up an old friend on the payphone for a little bit of something. He remembers the coke, snorting it off the top of the toilet cistern in the graffiti covered bathroom. He checks his pocket and pulls out five empty bags. He remembers the pills and cradles his head in his hands.

"Good morning sleeping beauty" Fiona says from behind him.

"How did I get here?" He asks, groaning at every little sound.

"You were wasted. Not even wasted. Completely unresponsive" Fiona replies angrily."Your friend Gloansy at least had the sense to take you somewhere safe. Somewhere that you couldn't drink anymore or get high. Anything could have happened to you"

"It already did" he mumbles, rubbing his forehead. He feels like shit and doesn't look any better.

"Is that what this is about?" She asks and moves to sit next to him on the sofa.

She never once in her life imagined the "Great Jem Coughlin" as being vulnerable. But here he is, on her couch, hungover and on a come-down.

He nods, sadly. The anguish he feels is obvious in his eyes, every line of his face.

"Oh, Jem" she says and wraps her arms around him, hugging him tightly.

The floodgates open and she pulls him back onto the sofa, his head resting on her chest as she tries to soothe him.

"You can't keep doing this. One day you might not be so lucky and then what am I going to do?" She murmurs into his short, cropped hair. His arm is wrapped tightly around her waist and he looks pathetic.

"You'd be better off"

Fiona shifts so he's looking at her.

"Don't you ever think that" she replies, her tone harsh."Don't you ever think that. What makes you think I would be better off?"

Jem's eyes are bright and teary. He sniffles, clearing his throat.

"You deserve better"

Fiona shakes her head slowly, biting down on her bottom lip.

"It's not about what I deserve, Jem. It's about what I want and I want you. But I don't want to have to sit and watch you kill yourself. I like a drink as much as you do, but doing this needs to stop. The drink and drugs needs to stop, Jem"

Jem looks at her with tear filled eyes.

"I need help."

***

Doug groans as he reads the text message from Gloansy and wonders what's going on. It's so unlike him to text or even call, so whatever it is must be important. He pulls on the pair of jeans he had kicked to the floor the night before and grabs a jumper from his wardrobe. All kinds of crazy stuff is going through his head and he can't determine what's the worst scenario. He taps out a quick message to Gloansy and tells him to meet him at the Rink
He has a feeling that whatever this important thing is, isn't good news.

Gloansy leans against the trunk of an old burnt-out car and looks up and down the road for Doug's truck, sighing heavily as Doug pulls in to the old parking lot.

"What's up, Gloans?" Doug asks getting out. He can see that Gloansy looks like hell and is probably hungover, a feeling he very rarely admitted to missing.

"You heard from Jem?"

Doug shakes his head. He had an odd feeling that this important news had something to do with him.

"What's he done?"

"What's he done?" Gloansy scoffs"He got so fucked up last night he couldn't do shit. Somethin' goin' on with him"

Doug shrugs his shoulders innocently.

"His benders are big. He's fucked up all the time and I figure there gotta be a reason for it."

"Since when did Jem need a reason to get fucked up?" Doug replies.

"I ended up takin him to some girl's house. That's it. The only thing he said." Gloansy's booming voice is filled with concern."What he got goin on an' I know you know, Doug. We're all in this shit heap together and we got a right to know"

Doug sighs heavily. On one hand he had promised Jem he would never tell a living soul what had happened in Walpole and on the other hand, Gloansy has a damn good point. They work together as a team and here he is keeping things back from them.

"Jem's got shit going on,alright?" Doug let's out a frustrated sigh.

"You can't tell me that and then tell me jack shit" Gloansy complains."If he's in trouble we got a right to know"

"You don't know 'cause he doesn't want you or anyone else to know. Shit happened a while back" Doug snaps.

"Sounds bad"

"It is" Doug confirms.

He decides there and then that they need to know. They need to know the reason why Jem came out of Walpole so fucked up in the head, ten times worse than he probably would have been.

"When he was inside he got some unwanted attention" Doug sighs.

"We all did" Gloansy chuckles and then he realises Doug's not finished.

"He was beaten, choked and raped, Gloans. That's what he didn't want any of us to know. It's fucking killing him"

Gloansy stares down at the cracked tarmac, unsure of what to say. He just figured prison did that to some people. He didn't think there was anything sinister in it.

"Jesus fuck!"