the other side of the coin

Chapter 1

“Hello Mitwik, what happened to this man? Can I help him?” The nurse looked up with sad eyes from his papers and followed Clairs glance. “Oh dear, he is a lost soul. Tried to kill himself. Maybe you can go and talk to him? Sometimes it is good to have somebody who cares by your side.” “Thank you Mitwik, I will talk to him.” With a smile she walked over to the man in his hospital bed. The doctors had cleaned up his wounds and bandaged his arms. He really had done a number on them. They should heal up very quickly. As she walked around the bed her body locked up for a moment and she was unable to move. Clear silver-grey eyes were looking up at her. Right in front of her laying in this bed was Draco Malfoy. “Why was he here? What had he done to himself? Wasn’t he still one of the few people who had all their possessions and a home to go back to? Shouldn’t he be happy to be alive?” But then her eyes met his and she could see all the hurt and shattered pieces before he put his mask back on. Right at that moment she decided to stay. Somebody had to be there for him.
“Hello Draco, what happened?”
Without uttering a word, Draco turned around and looked outside of the window. “Alright”, she thought, “then I will read my book. Maybe he will come around and is willing to talk in the next few hours.”
She must have slept. The next time she opens her eyes it is morning and the doctor is just ending his observation of the wound. “Great Mr. Malfoy, everything healed rather good. You shouldn’t have any problems with it. Regarding the circumstances you came here yesterday evening, I am unable to let you go home unattended. Is there somebody we can owl?”
Shaking his head he turns his face back to the window and starts staring again. She couldn’t take it any longer and went up to him. “Hey, I see your arms have healed up. That is good, right? How are you feeling?” With hate in his eyes he fixated his stare on her. “Is good? Nothing is good! This people are still outside celebrating, this stupid mark is all happy shiny for the rest of my life on my skin and I can’t be able remove it. It doesn’t matter what I do to it, it doesn’t budge. So no! Nothing is good! I hate it here, I hate it at home, I hate…” Suddenly all his fight left him and he crushes down on the bed again. “It doesn’t really matter, right? Nobody is there, so what does it matter…”
Frightened she sat down on the chair next to his hospital bed. “Why doesn’t it matter? It is Christmas time. It is the time to celebrate with your friends and family. Enjoy time together in peace and appreciate the things around us. It is the time of the year to be thankful, show kindness and give love. So, why are you so full of hate?”
Looking up at her, he shook his head. “With whom should I celebrate? People hate me! My family abandoned me, my friends flat the country and my home is empty. There is nothing to celebrate at all. Now go, leave me alone!” Sadly I turned around and went to the cafeteria. Maybe a minute for himself was a good thing.

The next time she entered Dracos room she saw red. On the bed was an angry Draco fighting to carve the mark off his arm with a scalpel. “Where did he even get that from?” Was her last thought before she pressed the alarm button and jumped at Draco to get the knife out of his fingers.
“Give me this scalpel Draco! Stop it, you are hurting yourself!” He tried to shove her off the bed. But his fingers were too slippery with all the blood on them. Tears were streaming down his face. “Let me go. Let me do this and get this stupid thing off me now! I can’t live with it any longer, I just can’t! Why does nobody understand that?! Let me go!” The moment she was on the verge of falling off the bed, strong arms went around her body and put her on her feet. Another person came around the bed and wrestled the scalpel out of Dracos hands. He immediately put him to sleep and went to work on his arms. Claire turned around to the person who helped her. “Thank you very much. That was close. What are you going to do with him?” The woman in front of her looked intensely at Draco. “We will have to see. He should talk with a therapist and get the things on his soul of his chest. It might take some work, but it will help him in the future. Are you his friend? He will need somebody to help him transition, after we clear him. It might be a little bit away, but he should start thinking about the future and make plans. That is a good way to keep going. Making plans and remembering them every day.” After the doctor was done with the new bandages she took the nurse with her outside again. Checking the room before she left so that any sharp objects were hidden.
Brushing Dracos hair out of his face she sat back down on the chair and made plans for the future. Draco Malfoy clearly needed a friend. She wanted to be that friend. “Oh Draco, you don’t know what you got yourself into.”