Bitter

Six

The morning peeked in through his blinds across the room. James had his session today and his end of summer party tonight. He was actually looking forward to seeing Darren today, he liked that man a lot more than he thought.

He stretched, yawning in the process. He flung his comforter off his body and swung his legs over the edge of the bed, blinking his eyes rapidly to wake up more. He sighed and stood up, quickly going to the bathroom and heading back into his room.

He picked out a plain white t-shirt and black soccer shorts, getting dressed effortlessly. He went to reach for his phone that was usually on his bed but he couldn't find it. Sighing, he began to look frantically around the room.

After a few minutes of searching, he dropped to his hands and knees, scanning the floor. He lifted the blanket from the floor so he could see underneath the bed. His heart dropped when something came rolling out from underneath.

He picked up an ugly yellow bottle and turned it over in his hands. The prescription was for him. It was one of the many pills he used to consume daily. Holding it in his hands made him feel scared, weak all over again.

He stood up, sitting on his bed and scanning the bottle. There was one tiny blue pill rattling around the bottle. James turned the container over, the blue pill landing in his hands. He remembered finally throwing these out with his family. It was his rejoice, his victory. He was free.

He almost chuckled of embarrassment when he used to shed tears in this room. He was addicted to the sleeping pills his mother had to take for her migraines occasionally. Every failure and mistake he has ever made in that year stuck in his mind, never leaving. It wasn't hard getting off the pills. What was hard was recovering from the loss of self worth.

He just stared at the blue pill, that tiny microcosm of hope. He slid the pill back into the bottle and let it roll back under his bed. He slumped, rubbing his hands together, suddenly anxious.

James jumped suddenly when something began to vibrate on the spot he was sitting on. He began to laugh when he discovered his phone was on his bed all this time.

*****

James's mother hugged him goodbye, leaving him in the hands of Darren Crossing. Daisy, Benny, and Rachel greeted him delightfully as always, licking his hands.

Daisy was smiling up at him again, her sweet face young, her fur as golden as ever. He crouched down, grabbing her slim face in his hands and kissing her nose. She licked his cheek in excitement. Lifting her paw and laying it on his knee.

"She does that to everyone, so she likes you. Maybe a little more than me." Darren laughed, patting the dogs head. James looked up at Darren happily. Darren looked as laid back as ever, black shorts and a dark blue t-shirt was his attire for the day.

"Shall we start?" He smiled, eyes glistening. James nodded, retracting his knee from Daisy's paw. Her eyes almost looked sad when he walked away from her, James felt a quick pang of loss.

Darren closed the door to his office. Him and James took their rightful places in the room; Darren at his desk and James in the comfy chair in front of it.

"So I found something today." James began. As much as he had an isolated personality, he was always quick to tell people anything. He felt that he put a little too much trust in people.

"And what's that?" Darren asked, looking in his drawers. Probably for a paper and pen.

"When I was.. you know.." James trailed off. Darren stopped his search and looked up suddenly.