A day in the clouds

30%

Dan sat in the cafeteria, staring at the plain white walls, emotionless, his bagel remaining uneaten. His stomach growled, but the ever growing lump in his throat wouldn't be going away anytime soon, and butterflies beat relentlessly at his tummy.

The sun peeked through the curtains, and landed on the petite, pretty face of the teenage girl next to him. She was forcing lucky charms into her mouth, carefully counting out each bite.

"One...two...three...four." She muttered, her voice barley audible above the chatter of the other patients. Her light brown, fluffy hair framed her circular face perfectly, and just touched her shoulders. "One..."

Dan slowly turned his head, getting a better look at the strange girl. He had seen her around one or twice in the past few days, but she had never made an effort to talk to him, so why now was she sitting next to the male? Was she even real? Dan hadn't hallucinated people in years, but perhaps his brain was finally rebelling against the medication that barley worked?

"Why are you looking at me?" She asked softly, making eye contact with the teen next to her. She seemed nervous. "Have I got something in my hair?"

"N-no!" Dan stuttered, stumbling over his words in an effort to get his point across.

"Then what is it?" She snapped, mixing her spoon into her cereal four times, blushing lightly.

"I was j-just um trying to decide if you were real or not..." He whispered, immediately regretting what he had just said. In the rush to answer her question, he hadn't thought about what he would say in response, and just blurted. Now the pretty girl would think he was crazy, or worse. A deep blushed broke out on his face.

but of course you're crazy the voices whispered, and Dan fought to ignore them, biting his lip in concentration.

"Well... I think I am." She said uncertainly, not a hint of a mocking tone in her voice. Instead she seemed genuinely concerned. Dan didn't know how to react to that. Usually people ran away, or laughed in his face when he asked questions like the one above.

"Why are you sitting here then?"

"You looked lonely. I know what it's like to be lonely." She hung her hair in shame, brown bangs falling in front of her eyes. Dan was rendered speechless, and stared at the girl with his mouth agape in confusion. Stuff like this never happened to him. The only people that would talk to Dan were the nurses and his mum when she visited every Sunday. This was utterly absurd. Lost in his own mind, Dan was unaware of the steadily growing awkward silence between the two kids, and looked at his hands.

"If you don't wanna talk to me you could have just said so." She said, disappointed after Dan had not answered her for quite some time. She started gathering her plastic bowl and cup, getting ready to leave.

"N-no wait!" Dan stuttered, standing up, towering over the tiny girl. "I-I um.... What is your name?" He blushed slightly, pulling down the sleeves of his black jumper nervously.

"Dorothy..." She sat back down, and Dan followed her lead. "But everyone calls my dodie. You?"

"D-Dan..."

Dodie started to nervously tap her pointer finger against the table, doing four taps, before waiting a beat and staring over again. It filled the awkward silence and Dan squinted at her finger, biting down on his soft lip hard.

rip her fucking hand off the voice whispered, and Dan whimpered earning a concerned looked from the girl. Break her finger. Make her stop. Twist her wrist.

Dodies small mouth was moving, but Dan couldn't hear anything other then the voices, jeering on the unhealthy actions.

Slap her. make her sorry she ever sat next to you. you don't deserve friends Dan. Dan bit his lip so hard he tasted blood, and fought against the raging war in his head.