Ardor ~ Skephalo Angst

🖤5🖤

this one's long, be ready 

 Trigger warnings: References back to $uicidal thoughts and bullying 

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Zak was startled by this information. "wh...wh...no... Darryl's the happiest person I know..h-he'd never do such a thing..." he slowly said. the nurse shook her head. "he had twelve cuts in all, six on each arm. some fading, but most are still new. I'd say maybe about a day or two old."

Zak couldn't believe it. he could feel fear and anger and regret build up inside of him all at once. It all made sense to him now. The knife he found on the floor, the blood, the bandages...he regretted just assuming Darryl accidentally got cut and regretted nodding off the fact that he might be suicidal. He was angry that he couldn't do anything to help him sooner and angry with himself for thinking he was okay. And, he was scared Darryl might do it one night. Just end it all. He told all of this to the nurse who wrote it down for reasons Zak didn't care about. As long as it was getting Darryl help. After the nurse left, Zak looked at the sleeping Darryl before him. He looked so calm and peaceful. Not a care in the world. 

Zak held his hand as he quietly began to sob. "I'm so sorry...I couldn't help you.." he quietly said. He turned his hand over to examine the bandage on his wrist. he could faintly see four slowly healing cuts through the material. He thought back to the night he heard Darryl yell and had found all those things on the floor. He kept quietly sobbing and apologizing to him even though he knew the other couldn't hear him. eventually, he fell asleep on the chair, staying next to him the whole time. He woke up to the sound of rapid beeping. He sat up to see Darryl awake having another panic attack. Zak quickly stood up and grabbed his hand again. "h-hey! Darryl! it's Zak! it's gonna be okay, just breathe for me, alright?" he spoke to him to try his best to calm him down. and to his surprise, it worked. Darryl calmed himself down enough to talk to Zak.

Zak could tell that he was still a bit anxious and confused though. as he talked to Darryl, he kept holding his hand and felt that he was shaking a bit. Zak couldn't help but feel bad for him. He never asked for this. He really wanted to ask him about his wrists, but that would just worry him more. 

"Hey, Darryl...what's the last thing you remember??" He wanted to figure out what happened to him, but Darryl didn't remember anything. "u-um...I.. don't know..." he shakily replied. Zak was disappointed at first, then Darryl slowly started to remember. "Wait...I remember g-going to the store...then..um..I walked out a-and these people...they...they...h-hit..m..." he started to sob halfway through and Zak saw some tears fall down onto the hospital blanket. "Hey, hey it's okay.. whatever happened, you're safe from it now...." he softly said to him. He could feel his shaking get worse as he sat on the side of the bed and pulled the anxious, crying boy into a hug. 

he could feel the shoulder of his shirt get soaked in tears as Darryl sobbed. Zak held him in his arms and Darryl hugged him back. "Just breathe, take some deep breaths. Everything is going to be okay" Zak felt like he could say anything to Darryl. He felt like he could do anything with him there. just his presence soothes him. About five minutes later, Zak managed to calm him to the point where he could talk steadily, although he was still a bit shaky. Darryl told him what had happened earlier, and he even started to smile a bit. that is until, right before they left. 

Before they left, Doctors had to do one last check to make sure he could actually leave. Zak sat in the corner of the room pretending to be on his phone, even though he was actually listening to everything. It was mostly nothing interesting. All they were doing was checking his vitals and overall health. As he sat in the corner, he started to worry once more about Darryl. What if he does it tonight? What if Zak wakes up the next morning to find him dead?