Henry Danger Oneshots

The Secrets I Keep II

"Wear red, it always makes you look tan and it matches with your hair." Henry breathed out. Charlotte noticed that Henry had begun bouncing his leg, lightly tapping his foot against the floor, something he only did when he was truly stressed. "I can't do this Char, it's so hard."

"Yeah, you can, just look away." Charlotte suggested, her grip on his hand tightening slightly to show her support. "If anyone can do it, it's you. You're so strong Henry, stronger than you could ever know. You've been sober for, what is it now, almost two years?" Henry nodded, still not looking away from the thing that held his attention. "Yeah, almost two years. I really want you to get that two year pin. We all do."

"We really do." Jasper added.

"We believe in you." I continued.

"Just look away." Said Schwoz.

Finally, after several more moments of silence, Henry's head turned as he took a deep breath. With a hyper enhanced movement, he pushed the bottle away from him and towards his friend. Obliging, Charlotte snatched up the bottle, in such a haste that you could confuse it for hyper motility, and almost threw it to Jasper, who jumped at the sudden movement, just catching the bottle before it hit the floor.

"One year and ten months." Henry stated. "One year and ten months. One year and ten months." He began to repeat it as if it were the only thing keeping him from disappearing into the air. His eyes were clenched shut as he repeated the sentence. His grip on his friend's hand had tightened significantly, which was made obvious by the pained look on her face. "You know, it was so hard to stop the first time, but they say it's so much harder to stop the second time. In fact, it's so hard that most people don't stop. After a while, they crave larger amounts to get the same high they got before they quit, so they take double, if not bigger amounts which end in overdose. I'd say I'm decently smart, but I've made stupid decisions. I stopped. One year and ten months ago I stopped. One year and ten months." He repeats again. For a moment, I worried he would slip back into echolalia, a symptom of shock and stress, but he didn't. "One year and ten months... that's good."

"Yeah, that's really good, Henry. We're all really proud of you. Do you hear me? We're really proud." I tell him. Henry stopped talking in favour of breathing. "You've done so well."

"How can you be proud of me when I did that?" He ground out. "I've never wanted something more in my life; it's still there, a tiny, but powerful voice in my head wanting me to do it. Wanting me to whip that bottle out of Jasper's pocket and take the whole bottle, I'd die, but at least I'd be high."

"Henry-" Jasper started but was quickly cut off, Henry was in no way done speaking.

"Stress and upset are the main factor for people to turn to drugs, especially those who have taken them before. Seeing it, even after nearly two years of sobriety, is the ultimate temptation, knowing it's right there." Henry continued, not paying any attention to what he was saying, just saying whatever fact came to his mind from extensive research on his illness. It was just a sort of reprieve.

"You didn't take it though. You didn't take it." Jasper reminded him. The ex addict snapped his eyes open, looking at one of his oldest friends.

"Because Charlotte was right next to me." He admitted. "I didn't want to disappoint her. I didn't want to disappoint any of you." Defeat was clear in his eyes. He looked so tired. He looked at his friend before looking down at Charlotte's hand that hadn't released his, something he was clearly grateful for.

"But you could have." Charlotte said slowly. "When you were home. You could have taken them when you got them and we would have been none the wiser, but you didn't. You came here and you asked for help, which is easily the hardest thing to do. You showed us the bottle and you gave it away."

"That said more than you think." Schwoz added.

"Once a drug addict, always a drug addict." Henry mused, though his tone was humourless.

"No, kid." I say firmly, grabbing his attention. There was a lot of conviction in my voice, something that seemed to catch Henry off guard. "What defines you is that you went through rehab and you stayed clean. You went through withdrawal and you attended Narcotics Anonymous. Not only that, but you are almost to your two year mark. That says a lot."

"You didn't give in to temptation and that's who you are. You're so strong. That's what defines you, not the illness. It takes a hell of a lot of strength to do all that." Schwoz continues.

"If I didn't have work today, I don't know what would have happened. I want it so badly, even when I can't see it. Do you know how easy it is to get oxy in Swellview? Far too easy. I enjoyed buying it as much as I did taking it." He confessed. "The danger of it? The risk of losing everything, it was as much of a high as the pills."

The confession caught me off guard, and it apparently did for everyone else too. Who knew Henry was so much different than we originally thought.

"Henry..." Charlotte whispered.

"It wasn't even really Rai who helped me." That definitely caught me off guard. After all, I was the one to check him into rehab. I called him almost everyday. Sure, sometimes he wouldn't answer, but that was normal, wasn't it? "There was a girl, Thalia Princeton. She was in for anorexia, but she was getting a lot better. Dark black hair, very curly. She had the bluest eyes I've ever seen. Thin as a stick, but you could tell she was getting healthier." Henry added. "I was going through withdrawal, I had a photo of us all. You probably know the one. It was the one from when we went for a picnic up by the lighthouse."

"Yeah kid, we remember." I assure him.

"I was so mad at you all." He growled. "I took the picture and I threw it as hard as I could against the wall. It smashed into hundreds of pieces. I wasn't allowed a lot of objects after that. At least none that contained glass. Apparently I was a safety risk. But I remember the feeling of destroying it, it was so satisfying. It made me feel better. I thought of how hurt you would all be if you saw it, and it made me feel better. Enter Thalia. She was basically my withdrawal buddy. She stayed by my side, took the blunt of my anger and lashings."

"Hen..." Jasper whispered, tears staining his cheeks.

"She said, 'You have two choices. Fake it until you have nothing left to love, or fight and make it out alive.' I chose to fight."

"What happened after?" Charlotte asked quietly.

"I was so mean to her. I insulted her, I called her names, I did everything I could to make her leave, but she never did. She understood it was all a symptom of withdrawal. When it was all over, I apologised. She said it wasn't necessary but she thanked me. I was confused why she was thanking me when she explained. 'You called me all the things I used to call me.' She had said. 'All the things my bullies called me that made me start purging, but they just didn't bother me anymore.' In a weird way, my suffering helped her."

"I'm sorry you had to go through that Henry." Jasper sighed.

"Yeah me too." He sighed, releasing his grip on Charlotte's hand. "But I'm not hugging anyone, just to let you know." He offered a lopsided grin. You could confuse it for being laid back, but you could see it in his shoulders. He was so incredibly tense. I'd say that if you even got close to hugging him, he'd have a panic attack. "I don't want this to be one of those weird group hugs you see on those dumb television shows Jasper watches."

"Oi! Watch it!" Jasper mock argued.

"We still need to find out who sent this." I reminded everyone.

"You know what? I don't care." Henry admitted.

"What?" Charlotte asked, astonished.

"I don't care. If I get one next year, I'll worry then, but right now, it just feels like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. I just want to be free."

So this came to me really randomly but I really like it. So, I hope you enjoyed it.

Cheers!