Michael sighed , slamming his locker close. He hated it here, everybody always stared at him and he could hear them whisper whenever he walked by. But Michael didn't blame them, he just wishes they would know he truth. Michael was used to it after half a year,the whispers, the stares ,the nasty comments every now and then. It wasn't that bad any more, it used to be much worse.

When it had just happend he would get horrible insults thrown at him daily but it even became physical for a short amount of time, leaving him battered and bruised. But that had luckily stopped by now, he wasn't worth their time anymore, he wasn't worth more than a whisper or a stare. Michael absolutely hated the feeling of being stared at, he always felt bad about himself when he heard people whisper when he walked by, knowing it was about him. Still to this day, Michael gets insults thrown at him occasionally. But the worst part was losing everybody around him ,  nobody dared to be seen with him , scared to harm their reputation.

Sometimes Michael thinks about how it was before everything turned bad, or how it would be if he hadn't let it happen, would he still be the same? Michael sure was an outcast but he had some good friends that he hung out with and he didn't despise it here as much as he does now.

Normally Michael tries to stay at home as much as he can , being home felt so much nicer and safer for Michael, it was warm inside and he had people around him that did believe him. His mom knows how much it takes for Michael to be at school and she hates sending him towards it but she also knew that education was important even though she could see how it takes it's toll on Michael and how depressed he gets when he comes home from school.

Michael's parents and his therapist had arranged with the school's principle that he could stay at home for a few days a week and doing his work there, but he still needed to go to school at least two days a week. That was the deal but sometimes times got so bad for Michael mentally that he just stayed home for the entire week or more.

Michael was beyond tired, he had another nightmare last night, leaving him to wake up sweating and crying. He didn't dare to go back to sleep or to wake up Jason, knowing to dam well he needed his sleep too. So he just laid in bed , tossing and turning as he was too afraid to go back to sleep and have another horrible nightmare, it might not be the reality but it still scared him beyond belief.

Shivering form the cold, the dirty blonde made his way out of the building, slowly walking towards the parking lot trying to spot his mother's car. Once he found it he quickly made his way down the school steps and walked towards the silver car, getting into the passenger's side mumbling a quick 'Hi' to his mother as she offered him a sad smile. She hated to see the look on Michael's face whenever he came home from school.

-

The ticking of the small clock on top of his therapist desk filled the room, loudly ticking away as Angela, his therapist, wrote down something before lifting her head and looking directly at Michael. Pushing her large black framed glasses further up her nose and tucking a loose strand of her pitch black hair back behind her ear that had fallen out of her tight ponytail , she offered Michael a genuine smile as she asked him the same question she asked him every time he was here "How was your week Michael?" Michael shrugged his shoulders "The same as always" he replied in all honestly "Nothing special happened" he added to it , seeing Angela nod her head.

"How are you feeling today? " She asked while scribbling something down on her notepad like she always seemed to do, Michael often wondered what she wrote down about him, if she thought he was a lost case too or if she purely understood him.

"Okay I guess" Michael answered , playing with his fingers "I went to school today" the dirty haired blonde mentioned and Angela started writing again "Did you just went today?" she questioned and Michael nodded his head in reply ,mumbling a small "Yeah" underneath his breath

Angela sighed "You know you need to go at least twice a week Michael, that's what your school and your parents agreed on" she said while trying to make eye contact with the young boy but Michael wouldn't lift his head from where he was occupied with his own fingers , playing with them and trying to calm himself down. He did that allot, avoid eye contact and play with his fingers when he's anxious or nervous.

Michael knew his therapist was right, sighing and letting his shoulders fall he mumbled a "I know, I just hate it there" Angela sighed, it wasn't a sigh of annoyance but more a sigh of understanding "I understand that Michael, I know it's hard to go back to the place where it all happened" She comforted the young boy. The dirty blonde lifted his head up, making eye contact with his therapist. There were tears prickling in the corners of his eyes and his voice cracked as he spoke "It's not only that, it's the fact that everybody stares at me like I'm a freak" Michael said, hugging himself and running his hands down his arms in a self-protective manner.

His therapist was used to this behaviour of Michael, it was the kind of behaviour he always showed when he was on the edge of breaking down. "You need to be bigger than them Michael" Angela said in a soft voice , trying to calm the young boy down. "It's easier said than done" Michael whispered "I understand Michael" the woman replied , voice still soft and comforting as Michael was on the edge. "You're seventeen now Michael ,just a few more months and you're out of that place, your education is important" She said and Michael nodded his head once again understanding that he had to go to school even though how much he despised it there.

Michael took a sip of his cold water that Angela always brought along for him and calmed himself down again until he was feeling okay again, his therapist told him to take his time, writing a few things down on her notepad again from their previous conversation.

"Have you been having nightmares recently?" Angela asked and Michael nodded his head ,taking another sip of his cold water before answering "Yes" he replied and the woman in front of him nodded her head "When was the last?" she questioned and Michael started to play with his fingers again "Last night" he replied honestly, feeling the panic of last night come up again. He had woken up sweating and crying once again, it happened allot.

Sometimes he had good weeks where he wouldn't get any nightmares and sometimes he had them every evening for a long period of time, especially in the beginning he had them nonstop but now he sometimes went without them for a small period of time. "Do you want to talk about it" Angela questioned and Michael shook his head ,not wanting to think about his nightmare. He could feel his throat closing up by just thinking about it.

"How's your piercing?" Angela asked, lightening up the conversation. Michael offered his therapist a small smile shrugging his shoulders "It's healing pretty well ,not hurting quite as much as before" he replied ,automatically touching it when being mentioned ,even though he was supposed to not touch it.

Michael and his therapist held a light conversation for the next couple of minutes until his time was up and they said their goodbye's , Angela walking with the dirty blonde towards the waiting room and mumbling something along the lines of Michael opening up more and making process to his mother while Michael put his jacket on.

Michael's mother smiled as she replied towards the woman but he was too far away to catch what she was saying, he figured she said her goodbye's as she was walking over to him not a minute after that she was walking over to him,questioning him if he was ready to go. Michael nodded his head in reply and tugged on the sleeves of his jacket so that they covered his hands too.

"How did it went?" Karen questioned as soon as she was pulling out of the parking lot. "Good" Michael replied honestly with a small smile while gazing out of the window. "She told me you were doing better" his mother stated and Michael shrugged his shoulders "I guess" the dirty haired blonde sighed. "It will be alright Michael, just give it time" his mother said, gently squeezing his knee in the process "Time heals all wounds" she added and Michael sighed, if only she knew how he felt from the inside. "Not all, mom" Michael replied sadly

His mother didn't bother to make a conversation after that, she just continued to drive home. Once Michael arrived at his home he immediately went upstairs and locked himself into his room, not wanting to talk about anything with anyone for a while, he just needed some time to himself to think about everything that had happened today.

Hours passed and after a while he heard a knock on his door, Michael took his headphones out of his ears as he spotted Jason standing in the doorway of his room "You okay, mom said you didn't eat dinner" his older brother said , he had a plate of pasta in his hands "I wasn't hungry " Michael whispered "Felt nauseous" he quietly added after it, looking up at Jason. The truth was that he couldn't stop thinking about his conversation with his therapist and he just kept feeling dizzy as the nightmare played over and over again in the back of his head.

The look Michael was giving his older brother was enough for Jason to understand exactly why the dirty blonde hadn't eaten "Mikey" Jason sighed as he stepped into the room, closing the door behind him and walking over to the bed, setting the plate on Michael's beside table and pulling his younger brother In his arms. That was what did it for Michael, he had been strong all day, trying to keep everything inside of him the entire day. But now he couldn't control himself any longer as he quietly let the tears fall , letting them roll down his face.

His breathing became ragged as he started to sob in his brothers arms. "You've been having nightmares again?" Jason asks while he softly pets Michael's dirty blonde hair. Michael nods his head making his older brother sigh "You should've woken me up Mikey" he said while trying to comfort the curled up human ball inside of his arms, better known as Michael

"I can't just keep waking you up every time I have a nightmare, you have college and footie practice and it's my fault that I have them anyways" Michael said through hiccups , angrily wiping away the salty tears that were streaming down his face. "You need to stop believing this is your fault Mikey, it wasn't and it never will be" Jason said, still softly stroking his younger brothers hair "Okay?" he questioned when Michael didn't show the least sign of a reply. The young boy nodded his head, sniffing and wiping away more tears.

"Then why do I feel like I could've prevented it if I hadn't been so stupid" Michael hiccupped, Jason sighed "Because you want to go back in time and prevent it, you're trying to see the signs right now that you would've missed back then but no one could've known Mikey, you're too hard on yourself" Jason sighed as he let Michael cry in his arms like he had done numerous times before.

It took some time before Michael had calmed down and after that he ate the half cold pasta that Jason had brought him in , Jason stayed in Michael's room that night, watching over him just to know that he was feeling alright. He knew Michael had a rough day today, first he had to go to the place he most despised and after that he had to sit through another emotionally draining session with his therapist while he had been lacking sleep the entire week.

So Jason stayed there , making sure he was alright and staying there the entire night just to make sure his little brother didn't have another night mare and got a good night of sleep this time, and he did.