Danny awoke in the afternoon the next day. His vision was blurred, and he was incredibly sore. He felt someone holding his hand. Danny blinked a few times before regaining his vision. When he did, he saw the person who was holding his hand. It was a tired Vlad Masters, staring at him with a smile of relief that Danny was awake.
Danny started panicking at why he was here and so beaten up, when memories of the night before started flooding back to him.
His parents rejecting him. Them trying to kill him. Him almost dying.
Danny started to cry again. "Oh little badger, come here." Vlad said before hugging the sobbing Danny. Danny cried and cried for about 20 minutes, before slowly calming down.
Vlad released his hug and looked at Danny, who looked down at his own lap.
"Are you hungry, little badger?" Vlad asked. Danny, without looking up, just shook his head. There was more silence. The silence was abruptly broken by the sound of a cell phone ringing.
Vlad, forgetting it was there, pulled the phone out of his pocket. "It's your friends. They've been trying to call you all morning, but I didn't want to wake you." Vlad said, then held out the still ringing phone to Danny.
Danny nodded gratefully, then took the phone and answered it. It was Sam.
"Ohmigod! Danny!" She yelled in relief. Danny then heard Tucker in the backround say, "He answered?!"
"Danny where have you been, and why haven't you been answering your phone! What happened?!" Sam asked frantically. Danny opened his mouth to speak, but realizing he can't speak without crying again, he handed the phone to Vlad.
"Not to worry. He's safe at my house." Vlad said in a kind voice, nore Danny or his friends have heard before. "Vlad!" Sam exclaimed. "What have you done with Danny?!" She yelled angrily into the phone.
Vlad frowned and handed the phone to Danny. "I don't think your friends will believe me."
Danny took the phone, tried his hardest to hold back his tears, and put the phone up to his ear. "H-he's telling the truth," Danny's voice cracked halfway through the sentence.
Sam put the phone on speaker phone then she said, "Danny, are you okay? What's wrong?"
Vlad got up. I'll give you some privacy. Then he walked out.
Danny tried to talk into the phone to his friends. "I-I" But he just couldn't speak. So Tucker started talking. "Did you tell your parents the truth?" "Mhm." Danny said. "What did they do?" Tucker asked. Danny took a deep breath and said in a low voice, "They tried to kill me."
There was silence on the other line. Danny had to finally say, "H-hello?" "We'll come to Wisconson straight away." Sam said. "No." Danny said immediately. "If anyone knows that your coming here, they might tell my parents. And they might-" "Finish the job." Sam said finishing Danny's sentence for him.
Danny felt quite exhausted again. "I'll call you guys back later, okay?" "Well, okay. Just be careful." Sam said reluctantly. "I will." Danny said, then hung up the phone.
Danny lay the phone on the table next to him. He sat up to examine his scarred body. Danny's lip trembled as he realized these cuts are from his own parents.
He put the blanket back over him and lay back down, before closing his eyes and falling asleep once more.
