Relapse / Recovery

Back To It

He had woken up multiple times throughout the night. He was lucky enough that every time he woke up he was able to go back to sleep soon after. Slowly but surely he was getting use to this sleeping on his own thing. He still felt it every morning though; that overwhelming tired that seemed to encompass him all day yet disappear at night. Last night had only been made worse by the pain in his ankle. Randomly through the night it would start hurting so badly that it'd wake him up. Dre got him hooked up with an ice pack and tylenol before he went to his sessions yesterday but it still hurt. He could walk on it a bit but he preferred it if he didn't.

'Ugh Dre's gonna be in here any minute to wake me up.'

He had been woken up by Dre every morning so far, it was weird that he had woken up on his own. Did he actually just sleep enough for once? Doubt it. He rolled over and attempted to go back to sleep but couldn't. 'Might as well just lie here until I'm forced to get up.' He waited in bed with his eyes closed but his friend never came. Weird. Growing more restless he decided to get up.

8:47a.m.

Had Dre accidentally slept in? Fuck now they were behind. They'd normally be having breakfast by now. He slipped on some shoes and made his way across the lawn to the house. He paused before letting himself in through the back door. Music? It was loud enough that he could hear it from outside. He stepped into the house and found it empty with a few lights on. He traced the sound of the music and found Dre in the kitchen cookin up somethin that smelled good.

"Hey!" Dre said while spotting him "I was just about to go get you."

"Dude do you know what time it is?"

"Close to 9 I think?"

"Uh. Yeah."

"I know." Dre assured him

"Don't we need to be hitting the gym or something?"

"Hell no. Not with your ankle like that. I mean we could do some arms or something later tonight if you really wanted to but I figured you needed to rest. You sleep last night?"

"Woke up a lot but I think sleeping in helped."

Marsh took a seat at the kitchen island and Dre slid him a cup of coffee. It was really nice to just relax for once. Not that he needed to get use to it though, once he moved back home he'd need to stay on a workout routine similar to the one they'd been doing. For now he could just enjoy getting to rest. It was an easy morning of hanging out before heading to sessions. Yesterday's sessions had been kinda awkward. People kept asking him about his hair and his ankle and he really couldn't tell them what happened. The ankle was easy to explain but the hair was a random change. One that he was worried the staff knew all too well. He stared down his reflection and decided to throw on a beanie. Hopefully that would keep people from wondering too much about why he did it. Out of sight out of mind. And like Dre said, it was their little secret.

"Alright." Marsh said as Dre's Escalade pulled into the Promises driveway "I'll see you in three-- you coming in?"

"Yeah. I gotta do a check in with em."

A check in? His heart sank deep into his chest. His limbs suddenly became heavy.

"Calm down." Dre assured him "it's not about what happened. They just want me to do random check ins."

He followed slowly behind Dre. He promised he wouldn't tell them. He wouldn't just tell them anyways right? Wouldn't he have told them yesterday?

"Mr. Young, what a surprise! We haven't seen you in a while. Mr. Mathers, welcome back!"

The head counselor was as enthusiastic and cheerful as she was any other day.

"Are we ready for another great day of improvement!?"