alone

Chapter One-Something New

Dan woke up to the sound of the birds chirping, he turned to his window only to see that it was still slightly dark out. The digital clock that was rested on his bedside table read 6:45 a.m. He groaned at the time, but thought he might as well get ready if he was already up. The boy rolled out of his mess of pillows and blankets and over to the closet.

He picked out his favorite black shirt and black leather pants. He walked to the bathroom across the hall, and slowly closed the door, trying to make as little noise as possible. He turned the knob to the shower and took off his bed clothes, he slowly got in trying not to slip.

Dan spent a good twenty minutes in the shower, letting the warm water calm his always tense muscles. He got out and threw his shirt on right away. Even though he was alone he was still insecure of his skinny, almost anorexic body covered with multiple bruises and cuts from the others at his school. He quickly replaced his boxers and pants and began fixing his fringe, deciding to skip the flat iron this time.

He snatched his phone that he had placed on the edge of the counter and checked the time;

7:26 a.m,

The boy heard rustling coming from the kitchen, he unlocked the door and made his way downstairs, to see his mother making herself a cup of tea.

"Hiya mom." Dan said, his voice still husky from sleep. The rather small woman jumped from surprise, then turned around to face him with a smile.

"Good morning Daniel," she began, still chuckling from the small scare "Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah, did I scare you?" he pulled out a chair and sat down.

"Maybe just a tad," She smiled and rolled her eyes "Would you like me to make you some cereal hun?"

"Oh mom it's fine, I can do it!"

"No, no it's fine!" The woman never ceases to surprise Dan, this time it was because she was already beginning to make it for him. She placed it down in front of him and pulled herself a chair in front of her son who was already eating.

"So honey I know that you don't like talking about this kind of stuff, and you know I don't aswell, but how's it been going recently? Any urges, voices?" she was right, Dan didn't enjoy talking about this, but his mom was like his best friend, they were extremely close, especially ever since he came out to her.

"Well it's been going pretty well, I still don't ever feel like eating, and I havn't had any urges since that last time," He was referring to the night about a month ago where he was hospitalized from major blood loss due to self harm. "And the voices aren't as active as they used to be, ever since Dr.Mathers prescribed me the haloperidol they aren't coming around as much, and when they do they're not as loud as they used to be."

"That's amazing sweetheart!" The thing that Dan loved most about his mom, was that she was extremely encouraging no matter what the situation may be. "Let's keep working on getting you to eat a full three meals a day and we should hopefully be getting things back to normal soon." Dan smiled, taking his mom's hand in his.

"I love you so much mom, thank you for everything!"

"I love you too Dan, and of course, I mean I'm your mom anyways." They both laughed, the sun beginning to peak over the trees.

"Yeah I know but like when I came out to you were you more excited than I was, and with my mental health you don't make it sappy, or lie to make me feel better, you just," He paused, trying to search for the right words "Man I don't know."

"Well you're a big boy, I know you can handle it!" She teased, but at the same time she meant it.

"Thanks mom." Dan chuckled as he finished the bowl of brown and tan corn puffs. He stood up, taking his mother's empty cup and taking the both to the sink. "It's a quarter to eight, I better start walking." Dan said, and placed a small kiss on his mother's forehead.