A day in the clouds

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"Come and play with me Dan!" The yellow bear begged, looking up at the small boy with big black eyes. The child crossed his arms in anger and looked away, stiffing up a lip. Wind blew his brown hair across his forehead and sent shivers down his spine.

"No." He pouted. "You'll just go away again too. They...they always do."

The fat bear nervously tugged on his red shirt, cocking his head to the side. Dan pretended not to look, but in reality he was studying the bear, trying to decide if he was real or not. After much speculation, and several minutes of silence the little boy slammed his foot on the floor again, causing dusty dirt to rise from the ground from the force of how hard he lashed out.

"No! No, no no no!" He screamed, picking up the thing nearest him-which was a tiny acorn- and throwing it at the bear. "You're just fake, like everything else." Now tears were making their way down Dan's checks, steadily landing in the dirt.

Carefully, the bear approached him, but Dan took a few unsteady steps back. "I promise Dan, I won't disappear." The small boy had now closed his eyes, fists pushing the orbs inside his skull. Tears still leaked from his eyes, trekking down his already wet face. "I'm real."

Slowly, Dan removed his hands but still looked away. Steadily his tears started to dry. He took a deep breath. The crips air stung his nostrils as he inhaled, but at least he could feel, and when he looked up at the sun it burnt his warm brown eyes. Maybe I really am in relive, he thought. When he trusted himself again he decided to talk.

"Daddy thinks I'm c-crazy..." He whispered, eyes glued to the ground.

"But I know you're not." The animal in front of him replied, taking a careful step forward. When Dan didn't move he continued to do so. "And I'm the only one who thinks so."

The boy looked up unsteadily, when suddenly the image around him froze and disappeared. He wasn't outside. Not at all. Instead he was in a stuffy hospital room, an uncomfortable dress made of paper the only thing keeping him warm. The room was bare, aside from a small bed and a cup of water on a bedside table. The walls were white, and a small amount of light seeped through the closed curtain. It smelled of old people and alcohol.

With a cry of anguish, the little boy sat up, hands pulling at his hair uncomfortably. Of course, he thought much too bitterly for a five year old, another hallucination.

And with that thought circling his mind, Dan Howell threw his head back against his pillow, crying out again. The medication coursing through his veins made him sleepy and after several minutes of silently sobs he drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

Six years later the voice's started. They whispered things in Dans ears. They made him do unthinkable things, and he couldn't stop. He clawed at his hair and tried to gauge out his eyes, but nothing silenced the horrible voices.

Dan would never forget that day in school, when the adults finally took notice that he wasn't okay. That he wasn't better, and that the scary thoughts still plagued his sick mind.

He was on the swing set all by himself. Dark clouds gathered in the sky, blocking the bright sun from view. Dan's toes just barley touched the grassy ground, and he used the leverage to gently push himself back and fourth.

The other kids were playing kick ball, or having fun with holo hoops but Dan payed not attention to them. His eyes were trained on the floor in front of him, his forehead wrinkled in concentration as he tried to block out the voices.

make a run for it they whispered. pull that girls hair, take that kids ball. Attack them all.

Dan shuttered and squeezed his eyes closed, but the voices just got louder, making it impossible to focus on anything but them. Dan couldn't hear the foot steps from behind him. He couldn't hear is classmates snickers. He couldn't hear anything, until he was face first on the ground, ears ringing.