•Your Happy Place• || Phan

Introduction

I'm on my eighth shot and I've had six glasses of tequila.

I have school tomorrow.

"Yeah! Dan the man!" Some guy at the bar hands me a beer and I chug half of it down in one gulp.

The music thuds around me, incredibly loudly. The air is thick with the smell of smoke and sweat. Everyone is either dancing, making out, or drunk as hell.

That's me, I'm drunk as hell. But then again, when am I not?

By the end of the night, around 4am, I stumble out of the club and try to remember the way home. I'll just leave my car and come get it tomorrow. Deciding to walk home, I end up collapsing on the front lawn.

When I open my eyes, the sun is bright in the sky, judging by the position, I'd say it's still before 11am, which is good. My head is pounding and my visions blurry, which makes it tough to climb the tree that leads to my bedroom window. I manage to get inside without breaking my neck, soon after I sprint to my bathroom and go straight to the toilet to deposit the contents of my stomach.

Afterwards, I strip down and get in the shower, letting the hot water run all over my body. The steam clears my head and helps me to think more clearly.
I get out the shower and pull on black skinnies and a black jumper. I dry my hair and cringe at its natural curliness, grabbing my straightener and flicking the switch from off to on. Once the light turns green, I quickly flatten out my brown fringe. I check myself one last time for any imperfectness and walk back into my room.

+++

I go outside to discover my car is not there. What the fuck? I consider calling my mom to ask, but that would just raise suspicion. So, I have to walk like some sort of peasant. Luckily, the school is only 5 blocks away.

By the time I enter the double doors that lead into hell, it's the end of 4th period. I hurry to my locker and put my books, laptop, and water bottle, that's actually filled with vodka, away. On second thought, that vodka actually sounds quite good-

"Mr. Howell," a stern voice says from behind me right as the tip of the bottle touches my lips.

"Ms. Jensen, good morning." I say as politely as I can.

She rolls her eyes and takes the bottle from my hands. I open my mouth to argue, but she sniffs it and her eyes widen. "You're coming to my office. Right now."

Shit. Shit shit shit shit shit.

I drop my head and take the walk of shame to the counselor's office. "Have a seat." I nod and sit in a green chair across the desk from her. I look around and see all kinds of motivational posters, pictures of cats and flowers, and a large window that looks right out onto the busy street. I stare at the cars speeding past, the lucky bastards in them don't realize how lucky they are to actually know where their car is. "Do you know why you're here, Daniel?"

"Yeah, I guess so," I mumble.

"Good. Now I need you to breathe on this, it will tell me if you've consumed much alcohol in the past 12 hours." She smiles and holds out some weird device, I do as she says and it beeps three times as a number shows up on the screen. She sighs and goes into some long speech about drugs and drinking and all that bullshit. I just nod occasionally and pretend to pay attention, until something catches my ear. "-and there's a great sober living home for adults and teens just 50 miles from here. You'll have to detox first, of course but you'll be able to move in by Tuesday evening. I've already spoken to your mother-"

"How? You just caught me!"

"She's been worried about you, Daniel. She asked me to search your locker when I came to do just that, you were already there drinking. Anyway, your mother is all for it. It will be good for you to find happiness again."

"I am happy," I snap at her, a scowl forming on my face. "Living at this stupid house with a bunch of fucking strangers will just make me miserable, okay? You think you know what will be best for me but you don't even know me. You don't know anything about me!"

She just says "Daniel, it's expected for you to lash out like this, but you still have to do what I say, your mother confirmed that, as well."

I huff and roll my eyes, then follow her to her car.

+++

"Give me your phone," the short woman at the counter says to me.

I grip it defensively and glance at Ms. Jensen, who nods. I sigh and hand the other woman my phone. "You'll get it back after detoxification." She says and smiles sweetly.

I nod and a man in light blue scrubs gestures for me to follow him. I look at Ms. Jensen, "Your mom will be here tomorrow to pick you up, then you'll pack and leave for Autumn Springs, the sober living home I mentioned."

I grunt and turn to the man. He takes me down a brightly lit corridor and into a tiled room with a bed and a bathroom. That's it. He closes and locks the door.

+++

The next 24 hours consist of me staring at the ceiling, throwing up, sleeping, and banging my head against the wall. Suddenly I hear the click of a door unlocking. Freedom. Thank God. As soon as it opens the man from yesterday beckons for me to leave the room. Once we reach the lobby the woman at the desk hands me my phone. Oh, look at that! It's dead. Just my fucking luck.

"Dan," I turn to see my mom. She comes and hugs me. We then get in the car and drive home.

+++

"Come on honey, I'm sure it won't be that bad." My mom says as we drive to Autumn Springs.

"I beg to differ," I grumble, quite annoyed.

We pull up to a large, 3 story house. It's quite beautiful, actually. With a garden of hydrangeas and lilies and other gorgeous flowers. A white picket fence ran around the perimeter of the place. The house was painted a beige color with a blue door and a matching porch swing.
Me and my mom get my stuff and get out the car, walking up the stone pathway to the door.

I ring the doorbell and, when it opens, find myself staring into gorgeous wide eyes which, somehow, are blue, green, and yellow, all at the same time.

A/N k so yeah this is my new book. It is inspired by the tv show Recovery Road on Freeform. It won't follow the plot, but it will be similar.

So yeah that's cool. Uh stay tuned and I'll TRY to update regularly.

Thanks, loves!

~Carlisle Rose xx