Me Too *Mcpriceley*

Chapter 5 - Hushed Conversations

"You all know the drill. We'll go around in a circle, say our mountains and valleys of the day and then we'll open it up for group discussion with whatever you want to talk about. We'll start on this side of the room. Chris?"

"My mountain of the day, I ate three meals today. They were small, but there were three meals going into my system and staying there. My valley for the day..." Chris paused and Church gently rubbed his back for support and nodded to him, whispering something in his ear. Chris nodded before speaking up, "My valley today was that I've been one week clean and... I came very close to breaking it after lunch. I didn't though! But it was very close. It's so hard..." His voice trailed off and Church held his hand, comforting him. Kevin thought that it was pretty obvious that Chris was struggling to recover from bulimia, which would explain the small dinner.

"Thank you for sharing that with all of us. We're all here for you when you're struggling." The woman said kindly. She then turned to Church. Her voice softened significantly when she spoke to him, "Church, how have you been doing today?" 

"Today was actually pretty good. My mountain for the day is that I spent an entire day with Chris playing games. I've been getting a lot better with trusting. My valley for the day was that..." He took a little deep breath before continuing. Poptarts squeezed his hand as he continued. "I had some flashbacks and I had a really bad panic attack. I felt like I was back there, in that house. With my dad..." He winced and stopped talking. Chris very gently rubbed his arm. Kevin couldn't quite figure it out, but he suspected it was some sort of abuse situation.

"I am so glad that you're able to learn to trust again, that's very brave. I am so sorry about that, I'm always in my office and I ask that whenever that happens, you or Chris come to my office and I can try to help you through it." The woman offered. A few people whispered some assuring words to Church before the circle went back to the discussion. "Connor? Would you like to share?" Kevin noticed the woman and Connor share a look, hers was one of expectancy and his was one of determination.

"Sure. My mountain of the day is that I got to give Kevin a tour and I had a lot of fun." Connor smiled.

"And your valley?" The woman asked him, the expecting look still on her face.

"Today was actually pretty good. No valley today." Connor said while making eye contact with the woman unflinchingly. He then turned back to the circle. The boys nearest to him smiled at him as congratulations. Kevin knew something was off, but he didn't say anything. 

Davis shared that his mountain was that he didn't pick at his skin nearly as much since he had started to keep bandaids on his fingers and that his valley was that he had taken one of the bandaids off at one point. He said everything pretty straight forward and Kevin understood that he suffered from dermatillomania, (skin picking). 

Next, it was Kevin's turn. "Kevin, would you like to share why you're here and what your mountain and valley were today? You don't have to if you're uncomfortable." 

Kevin looked around at everyone who had the bravery to share, locking eyes with Connor for a second. The room felt so safe and warm, he wanted to share as well. He'd have to at some point anyway, right?

"I'm here because I've... I've never actually said it out loud before... I've been, uhm." He scratched his arm over his sleeve. 

"It's okay, Kevin. You're safe here." The woman calmed. Kevin nodded.

"I've struggled with self-harm... Cutting... for the past three years." He explained as he fiddled with his sleeve and looked down. He felt a hand rub his back and he looked up to see Neeley comforting him and everyone smiling and offering soft, kind words. He saw Connor giving him a long look that he couldn't quite read.