Damey

•3•

"Damien, is that you?"
I get a gasp in return to my questioning. I open the door slightly and see one of the most heartbreaking sights. Damien is on the floor with his knees pulled up to his chest and his hands pulling at his hair. He looks up at me and the door creaks open. His face is red and puffy and so are his eyes. I move closer and he shuffles further away. "Damien? What's going on? You're scaring me." He looks up again with a concerned flint in his eyes. "You scared?" I nod my head slowly in confusion. "Yes. Are you okay?" He shakes his head slowly and pulls his knees closer. I get down at eye level with him. "Hey. Hey. Hey. It's alright. You're okay." I put my hand on his shoulder and he flinches away. He chokes back sobs but he still has tears running down his face. "Damien. Please look at me." He looks up and the tears stop for a moment. "Can you tell me what's wrong?" He starts babbling incoherently. I place a hand on his knee slowly and he doesn't flinch away this time. "Slow down buddy. I can't understand you." He huffs and hides his face. "I upsetted Dadas. I scare Dadas. Dadas hurt me?" I furrow my eyebrows and move to sit cross legged in front of Damien. "Who is Dadas? How did you upset and scare them?" He points to me. "You Dadas. You says I scare you." I look at him in confusion. "What's going on? Should I call Shayne?" His eyes light up and he starts bouncing up and down a bit. "Ayne! Ayne! Ayne!" I chuckle a bit at his childish behavior.

Me: hey dude! So, I found Damien and he's acting a bit weird.

ShayneBottom: how so?

Me: he's calling you Ayne and calling me Dadas. He's keeps crying and flinched when I reached for his shoulder. What wrong with him?

ShayneBottom: fuck. Where are you?

Me: men's bathroom closest to Games. Handicap stall.

ShayneBottom: ok. I'll be there in about a minute.

Me: ok.?

I was so confused. Something is up with Damien and I don't know what but apparently Shayne does. Within about 2 minutes of watching Damien suck on his thumb while tears rolled down his cheeks, the door opens swiftly and Shayne sits down next to Damien. "Hey Damey. Are you okay?" Damien's eyes shoot up to see Shayne and he lays his head on his lap. Shayne pulls Damien's thumb out of his mouth and reveals a pacifier. Damien gasps and makes grabby hands at him. Shayne laughs and pops it into Damien's mouth. I look at Shayne in confusion and he mouths "later". I nod and watch Damien suck on a pacifier with his head in Shayne's lap. Damien's stomach growled and he whimpered. Shayne looks down at him. "You hungry?" Damien nods lightly. Shayne stands up and Damien makes grabby hands at him. Shayne picks up Damien and laughs a bit. "Is everything in there?" Shayne asks to which Damien responds. "What do you want? Crackers or a sandwich?" Damien's eyes lights up again. " Cackers peas!" He said around the paci that he sucked in with determination. We get to the Games room and Shayne goes to hand Damien to me. "I need you to hold him for a moment. Hold him on your waist as if he was a baby." Damien looks at him. " I not baby! I tree!" Shayne laughs. "You're right. I'm sorry. You're a big boy because you're three." Damien huffs and Shayne extends Damien in his arms towards me. "Hold him on your waist. He's super light". As I go to take him, Damien reached out to me and grabs my shirt. Once he's on my waist, he snuggles into my shirt but watched as Shayne opens that locked drawer from earlier. Damien squeaks and Shayne looks at him. "Don't worry Bud. I'm grabbing your crackers and juice. Do you want Momo?" Damien nods his head and then buried it back into my shirt. I see Shayne searching through the drawer for those three things but looks worried. "Damey, are you sure Momo is in there? I didn't see him." Damien starts to tear up. Instinctively, I run my hand through his hair and he calms down. He points at his backpack which is right behind the chair. Shayne opens it and digs around until he pulls out a stuffed cat. Damien squeals and Shayne hands him the stuffed animal. He holds it against my chest and I laugh a bit. Shayne sets the apple juice and animal crackers in the center of the room and goes to take Damien from me. The small man has an iron grip on my shirt and shakes his head towards Shayne. Damien grabs more of my shirt in his fist and hides his head. Shayne laughs. "I guess he likes you." I go red in the face. "Dameyyyy. You want your animal crackers and apple juice?" Damien gasps and released a bit of my shirt. He looks down at the crackers and almost squirms out of my arms. I hold him tighter but crouch down to help him onto the floor safely. I put him down slowly and he instantly reaches for the animal crackers which Shayne swipes away. "No no no. You can't have them until you say sorry for scaring Joven." Damien looks up at me with puppy dog eyes. "Sowy Dadas. No hurts?" My eyes widen a bit. Shayne looks at me and mouths another, "later". Shayne hands Damien a single cracker and he nibbles on it lightly. He looks between us with wide eyes as he finishes the cracker. "You want another one Damey? What do you have to say?" Damien thinks for a minute. "Uh. Pease Ayne?" Shayne hands him another cracker and Damien claps and giggles. Shayne hands me the bag of animal crackers to give to Damien when he wants one. Damien starts giggling again when I throw one up in the air and try to catch it in my mouth but it didn't land. It hit me in the eye. In the meantime, Shayne went back over to the drawer and grabbed something else out. It was yellow and fluffy and, "DUCKIE!!!" Damien yelled out in surprise as Shayne threw the blanket onto Damien's head. We all laughed and Damien snuggled into the blanket and laid against my chest. He took his supply cup full of apple juice and drank from it until he fell asleep. I removed it from his mouth to prevent him from choking and just ran my finger through his hair and Shayne smiled and took a quick picture. I looked at him.

"Okay. Explain."