The Choice Is Yours // a.lightwood

[08]

Daniel tossed and turned in his sleep as he had a recurring dream of him being chased. He was no older than about three years old and was standing outside of an unfamiliar house. He could hear the voices of people talking before he heard a loud howl. He turned to run into the house when he fell and a black dog came chasing after him. The dog pounced towards him and he woke up to a sharp pain in his back.

He groaned in pain, slightly sitting up and looking around at his surroundings. He could see the other boys soundly asleep in their bed and ran his hands down his face. He wiped his sweaty forehead on the back of his hand and got up from the floor. He walked over to the door of the dormitory and slowly opened it, trying not to wake anyone up. He went down to the common room and over to the book shelves.

Grabbing a random book off the shelf, he sat down on the soft carpet and leaned against the sofa. He brought his knees to his chest and began to read Watership Down, as it rested on top of his upper thighs. He tapped his feet against the leg of the table as he scanned over the same page for the third time. It was like his mind was in a completely different place, his mind kept wondering what they were doing back at the institute or if Bean was okay, being with Magnus.

"Are you alright?"

Daniel turned to see a ghost hovering a little ways away from him, near the statue that lead to his dormitory. He closed the book, setting it down on the table and got up off the floor.

"Woah," he mouthed as he walked towards the woman.

He blinked a couple of times before speaking once more, "I'm fine. I just couldn't sleep."

The ghost of Rowena Ravenclaw came towards him and he took a step back, feeling a little frightened. This was the first time he had ever seen a ghost, let alone talked to one and he didn't know exactly how to handle it.

"There's no need to be afraid, I will not harm you."

"I'm not s-scared." He said but he couldn't convince himself that he was telling the truth.

"What is your name?"

"Daniel." He said sitting down on the floor.

"You the one, the other students were talking about."

He shrugged, "I guess so."

Daniel sat there in silence, not knowing what to say next and listened to the calming winds that blew throughout the common room. He yawned rubbing his eyes and laid down in front of the statue. Resting his head on his hands, and quickly fell asleep.

------

"Awe look." Daniel heard someone say as he slowly began to wake up.

He pushed himself up so that he was sitting on the floor and noticed everyone staring at him. He ran his hands down his face as he was yawning. He was about to go back up to his dormitory when he was approached by a blonde haired girl.

"Did you sleep down here?" She asked him.

He rubbed his eyes with palm and slowly nodded before walking behind the statue. He opened the wooden door and went up to his dormitory to get ready for the day. He went over to his bed and began to make it like he did back at the institute. When the Lightwood adults were around the institute had to be in tip top shape and in it's rightful place. Once he was down, he grabbed his clothing and went into the bathroom.

He lathered himself with his orange blossom body wash and shampoo. He heard the other students in his dormitory moving about and he rinsed himself off. Wrapping his towel around his waist, he went over to the sink to brush his teeth. After he was finished, he dried himself off and got dressed in his school robes. He pushed his wet brown hair out of his face and tried to figure out how it was going to fix that sloppy mess.