Those Nightmares Gone

Chapter 8

Devin's POV

The entire school was buzzing about the Valentine's dance after tomorrow. Max and his friends told me it was the most intense after Halloween night-out and prom. Everyone dressed fancy and signed in to this banquet hall near Bramalea, and apparently, we could sneak in our own alcohol.

"Hey, Prinplup, you alive?" I whispered, leaning over to Danny’s desk. She pushed my head away without looking up from her notebook.

I kept wondering why she was the only girl who hated my guts, but then again, her treatment was something new to me. It was amusing.

"Hey, Prinplup. Are you going to the dance?" I whispered.

She put her pencil down and glared at me. "No. Stop bothering me."

It was always fun to annoy her. I was surprised she managed to tolerate me through and through. When lunch came around, Max pulled me aside anxiously. "Dude, call Danny over to the tech hallway," he said.

I narrowed my eyes. "Why?"

"I'm going to ask her to the Valentine's dance," he said. Did he take me for a fool? "I know what you’re thinking, but don’t think too much."

I tipped down my Blue Jays hat to dismiss the topic and moved around him to leave. He blocked me with his foot. "She's not going," I added, hoping he'd get the hint and forget about it.

He shook his head. "Call her down anyway. It's something I have to do."

Max was a nutcase. He wouldn’t approach me directly like this if he knew I’d stop him. Was he going to apologize? I didn’t want to tell Danny to go somewhere without me coming along, but Max would probably be pissed if I was there.

I casually walked across the cafeteria and sat next to Danny. She didn’t even have to look up when she said, "Why are you here?"

"Because you seem lonely," I answered.

"I appear lonely to you now of all times?" she said, scribbling on another piece of paper.

I turned my cap around and peeked over. "What are you writing?"

She covered it instantly. "Can you bug off?" I laughed and relaxed in my seat.

"I'm just here to tell you that all the washrooms upstairs are under maintenance. Ms. Helene said to use the one in the tech hallway." I was good at lying, but wished I wasn’t now.

"Oh," she said. "Okay." She began to pack up.

"Wait, you're going already?"

"Yeah, lunch is almost done anyways." She left, and I returned to my usual table with Max's friends. Ashley immediately changed her seat to the one beside me.

"So, is Danny gone?" she said. I rolled my eyes. This girl was like a leech that wouldn’t take the hint and let things go, just like her hotheaded brother.

"I kind of feel bad for her," said one of Max's friends, Liam. "I hope it's her last year of being harassed by the Valentine thing."

Wait. Harassed?

Danny's POV

I’d always thought this school’s washrooms sucked. Having to go all the way around to the deepest crevice of the school was a pain just for minute to pee. As I approached the washroom, though, there was someone waiting for me against the wall.

"Going somewhere?" he said. My feet faltered when Max straightened and faced me. I wanted to slap my forehead. I’d been avoiding him for days, whenever Valentine’s was nearby. This wasn't happening again. No, please. "Listen, b***h, this is your last time looking at this, so I will make sure it's more intense."

"You won't gain anything from it, Max," I spat. But I was wrong. He would gain everything he wanted. He would gain the pleasure of watching me cry and watching me depressed.

I was about to turned and leave when he pulled out an album from behind him. I froze in my tracks. I couldn't peel my eyes away from the same album I used to cherish as a child. I used to cherish so much, it hurt now.

"Remember this album, Danny?" he said. He flipped to the first page where my dad was cradling me in his arms. I wanted to look away. I wanted to. "Remember your daddy?" Max inched forward, bringing the album closer to me. He flipped to more pictures, and I couldn't look away. My heart throbbed with warmth, hate and love.

"Max, put it away," I said, my voice wavering. He's never going to come back.

"Depressed, already?" he said, a cruel smile creeping up on his face. I laughed harshly, and his smile dropped.

"I've always been, Max," I said. "You want to see me cry and cry until I have no more tears. You want me depressed. You want me to die and cry and cry." My blurry eyes looked at the loving picture of my dad kissing my cheek. A tear rolled out. He's never going to come back.

"You have no idea what it's like to cry, Danny," he said. "My mother does. I do!"

My eyes snapped up to him. "I'm sorry for your mom, Max. But it wasn’t my fault!" Tears poured down my face. "My d-d-dad will say sorry!" No, he wouldn’t. He was gone, long gone.

"Stop making promises you can't keep, Danny. He hates you," Max said, disgusted. That broke me and my heart into a million pieces: my dad hates me. I couldn’t believe I had clung on to the hope he still loved, he still had me somewhere in his heart. He's never going to come back.

"Max, please don't," I said, quietly.

"You know it, Danny," Max spat. Anger and sorrow filled every pore in my body, and I shakily inched towards him. "You know very well, that every picture in this f*****g album is never going to happen again." He threw the album on the floor.

"Max, don't," I said, my voice dangerously close to breaking.

"Happy Valentine's day, Danny," he said with the vilest glint in his eyes. "And you know no matter how many Valentine's days have gone by, your dad will never come back.".

He said the same exact words that have been troubling me for almost all my entire life. He's never going to come back. Max had really crossed the line, and I was really boiling with emotion I couldn’t stifle anymore. Before I knew it, my hand was flying in the air, to his face. Max recoiled in shock. My palm stung.

I had slapped him. Before it fully sunk in, I slid past him and ran.

Devin's POV

Where the heck was Danny? I’d been running around the halls in tech, and I knew Max had something else in mind when he said he wanted to see Danny. I ran around a corner just to crash into the only person I wanted to see. I stared at her in shock as she lifted her head. She'd been crying.

"Danny? What –" She ran past me and disappeared into the stairwell.

No, please don't tell me this got out of hand. I kept running. Now, I needed to find Max. He was frozen at a wall near the washrooms, like he'd been there the entire time. He had a red mark creeping up his cheek, and I could almost see the scene unfold before me.

I crossed my arms and sighed. "What did you do, Max?"

"She slapped me," he said. His jaw tightened. "She f*****g slapped me."

"Yeah, I got that. Why?" He pointed to the ground and I saw some sort of album lying there. I picked it up and flipped through the pages. They were filled with this little girl and a man, growing together after each page.

"It’s her dad," Max said, walking away. I didn't follow him. Neither did I go to Danny. I crouched down against the wall and flipped through the album.

Danny's POV

I recovered with the annual harassment from Max much quicker than I thought this year. Although I was quiet through the rest of my classes, I was back to normal when we went home. I hadn't told Asha or anyone yet. Devin was the only one who'd seen me cry in the hallway.

When we reached home, we had a surprise. Out of all the days, everyone seemed to be home at once. Josh and Judy took a day off from work. Karissa and Eric for had free time from their university. I didn’t want to ruin the mood by sharing my sob story.

The only thing bothering me was the way Devin kept looking at me. In all honesty, his sole presence bothered me. I couldn’t put my finger around it.

"So, Valentine's is on the way, kiddos!" Josh said, excitedly. "Who are our lovebirds?" All of us were gathered around the living room, and we all know it was ironic that Josh said that.

"Hm, let's see," Karissa said, flipping her index finger. "First, you and Judy." Before he could protest apart from the blush, she continued. "Then Devin and Danny."

"That's so not approved, Karissa," I said darkly, making everyone laugh.

"Come on, Prinplup. Maybe just for Valentine's day," Devin suggested. I shot him a disgusted look and stomped over to Karissa. I closed her middle finger.

"Okay, so Judy and Josh, and who else?" I said, as if nothing happened.

"Devin and Danny," Asha said, giggling. I sent her a menacing look and she giggled some more. I smirked and lifted Karissa's middle.

"Okay, so. Josh and Judy, and then Asha and Ryan, then who else?" Asha blushed when Ryan came up and closed Karissa's middle finger.

"Guys, stop it! My fingers are attached to me!" Karissa exclaimed, and tugged her hand away. "Stop this physical violence and let’s just talk about love." Eric snickered at his twin and Asha tapped her chin.

"Well, we have this Valentine's day dance at our school," she said.

"Really? The key is to dress to impress," Karissa stated, winning props from Judy.

"I'm not going to the dance," I said.

"Are you kidding?" Karissa said. "You think you can not go under my watch?" I lifted an eyebrow and she gestured to Devin. "The so-called ladies’ man here didn’t bring a single lady home yet. Is he under some magic spell?"

"How am I supposed to know?" I said, glancing at Devin. He rubbed the back of his head and muttered about having a difficult sister while Karissa tried to convince me to attend the dance with him. Devin seemed to enjoy watching me repeatedly decline.

She eventually gave up and the topic of love finally ended. I left to get a glass of water for my parched throat, but someone else entered shortly. I could tell who it was by the familiar pattern of his footsteps, and I wasn’t fazed.

Devin walked up to me, placed a hand on the counter, and carefully spoke over my ear. "If you want me to do your favor, go to the Valentine’s dance."

The favor. I’d been thinking about that favor for a quite a while, more so after slapping Max. If he had snitched on me, I would've been sent to the principle's office for the first time. I would’ve deserved it. Slapping him wasn’t right regardless how much he had hurt me emotionally.

"Do you really want me to go to the dance?" I asked Devin. "Is that all you want?"

"That’s my deal."

I took a deep breath and turned around. "Fine. I’ll go. But here’s what you have to do."

It was a big favor, even risky. I once used to visit Riley directly and ask if her health was fine, tend to her needs, and be an actual daughter figure. But hearing about the condition Max’s mom was in now, I was ashamed to show up to help.

Instead, Devin would go. I had bought prescription drugs for Riley, and he had to deliver them to her. I’d used them to handle my own depression, and I had to speak with her doctor to get the correct ones for her. I told Devin to make me anonymous and tell Riley a doctor would visit her someday soon. I told him to keep it a secret from Max.

It might not be much, but I was willing to provide any sort of help to mend their family after my dad had wrecked it. I knew how it felt. Max was wrong. I knew how it felt when the person whom you loved so much just let you go, let the world go, and never returned the same again.