Discovery. Flower Crowns And Stars Prequel

Chapter 5

TW: Mentions of self harm but no actual self harm.

Dan sat on his bed, his head in his hands. He couldn't stop crying and he was pretty sure the whole house could hear him. Around ten minutes later, there was a knock on Dan's bedroom door. "Don't come in!" He yelled, frantically rubbing his eyes with his fists to cover up the fact that he had been crying.

Dan's parents obviously didn't listen because his door soon opened to reveal his concerned looking parents. This set Dan off on another round of sobs.

"Go away." Dan mumbled.

"Daniel, what's wrong?" Dan's mum asked as Dan brought his legs to his chest. His response was yet another harrowing sob.

"Talk to us." Dan's dad tried, in attempt to get his son to tell them what was up.

"I can't tell you."

"Yes, you can."

"You won't understand."

"We'll try our best." Dan glanced up to meet his parents' eyes. Both his mum and dad looked concerned and upset... all because of Dan.

"I'm just sad... a lot." Dan's voice was barely audible but he could tell both his parents heard when their faces softened.

"Okay.. any particular reason?" Dan's mum said.

"Just a lot of things... Can you go now? I'm tired." Dan refused to look his parents in the eye in fear he'd break down again.

"Do you want to talk about it in the morning?"

Dan shook his head. "I'm fine."

He wasn't fine.

-

"You don't have to go to school if you don't want to. You had a late night last night." Dan's mum said, looking down at her son who was bundled up in a mound of bed covers.

"Thanks, mum..." Dan mumbled, his voice slightly muffled by the covers.

"But you need to talk to me or your dad sometime."

"I don't want to."

"I know you don't but we can help you." Dan just rolled over so he couldn't see his mum anymore.

-

Dan's parents left for work, leaving Dan alone with his thoughts. He headed straight downstairs to his empty kitchen and opened up a cupboard. He slowly pulled out a glass before putting it on the side. He then got a bottle of juice from another cupboard and turned to put that on the side too. Just as he turned, his elbow came in contact with the glass, sending it crashing to the ground. Dan let out a cry as he reached out to catch it and missed it. The glass shattered into miniature pieces, going absolutely everywhere.

Considering Dan had bare feet, he had to try and step around the shards to get a dustpan and brush. Once he got it, he bent down and slowly scooped up the glass. Somehow, he slipped and the glass cut his arm, making him let out a loud cry. He ignored the pain and proceeded to clean up the shards. It took him at least an hour but he did eventually pick up the pieces of glass.

-

Dan decided against having a drink and, in the end, he just got back into bed. He stared up at the ceiling without moving pretty much all day.

It wasn't quite the same as the hill: there being no real stars (only tiny plastic ones) or much tranquility. Dan would rather have been looking up at the beautiful, star-filled sky but it just had to be daytime, didn't it?

-

Dan's mum was first to get home. She immediately headed upstairs to Dan's room to check on her son. (She had genuinely been worrying about him all day.) When she saw Dan was staring blankly at the plain ceiling, her anxiety grew. "Daniel, are you okay?" She asked.

"I'm tired." Dan simply responded, not tearing his gaze away from the ceiling.

"Have you eaten at all today?" Dan shook his head, his stomach loudly rumbling at the thought of food. "You need to eat then. Come on." Dan didn't argue, he just stood up and followed his mum downstairs.

Dan sat down at the kitchen table and looked down at his lap. "What do you want then?" Dan's mum asked, opening up a cupboard and pulling out a single plate. Dan shrugged. "Is a sandwich okay?"

"I guess." Dan watched as his mum put together a sandwich in front of him. Dan's mum handed him the sandwich and he placed it on the table. She gasped as her eyes laid upon Dan's bare arm.

"What's that?" Dan's mum's voice was shaking, like she was on the verge of crying.

"I-" Dan started but he was quickly cut off.

"Did you- Did you-" Dan's mum choked, obviously not believing what she was seeing.

"You've got the wrong idea! I dropped a glass, it was an accident!"

"Are you lying?"

"No, I swear."

"Daniel, your father and I love you so much, please never hurt yourself.."

"I won't mum, I promise."

"We're worried about you, you know."

"Don't be," Dan simply said. "I'm fine."

"You're not and we can see that. Would you like to talk to someone that isn't us?"

"Like who?"

"A therapist maybe?"

"No, I'm okay." Dan knew he wasn't okay but he didn't want to flaunt that. People would treat him differently; they'd sympathise him and he just wanted to be treated normally- like he was the same as everyone else. Having something such as a mental illness would make him unique- it would earn unwanted attention. Dan just wanted to blend in and be normal.. What was normal though? Happiness? Not really: if you're too happy, you're "weak". Fitting a stereotype? No because people are then called fake.

So what was normal?

Dan knew one thing it wasn't...

Normal wasn't Dan.

"Are you sure?" Dan's mum said, jolting Dan out of his thoughts. Dan nodded, unable to meet his mum's gaze again. "Well come on then... eat up."