*3 years previously*
*Dan's POV*
It's my sixteenth birthday party. Everyone is having fun partying up at my house, laughing, eating, and drinking until they are sick. But here I am, behind the garden shed with two friends.
"Come on Brandon! Where's the stuff?" Reece asks in a slurred drunken tone, an excited expression on his face. Brandon puts his hand into his pocket, and pulls out a small plastic bag. My body tenses.
The smell of weed pollutes the air around us as Brandon pulls open the re-sealable bag. He pulls out an already made joint, and lights it. He takes a puff, blowing out the foul smelling smoke after, making Reece laugh.
Next, he passes the joint to Reece, who takes a deep breath of the herb, and goes immediately dizzy, and leans back on the shed. Next it's my turn.
I try to hide my shaking hands as I take the lit joint from Reece. Doubt fills me. What if I do it wrong? What if they know that it's my first time? I don't have a clue what I'm doing I think to myself. Here it goes.
I take a breath of the smoke, which to be honest tastes disgusting. I cough, earning a hard pat on the back from Brandon.
"Go on, Dan!" he encourages me. I take a deep breath of the vile stuff, and black spots start to cover my vision. I blink harshly to try and get rid of them, and try and concentrate to pass the joint back to Brandon.
Feeling dizzy, I lean back on the hedge. Of course it doesn't hold my weight, and I topple over backwards. I hear Reece and Brandon laugh, but it's as though I am hearing them through water. I lie back, shut my eyes, and take a deep breath.
When I open my eyes five seconds later, the hedge surrounding me is purple, and the shed has been painted blue and green. I scrabble to my feet, and completely ignoring Reece and Brandon, I run up to my house, chasing the small silver UFO.
I push past the dancing people, and the questioning looks around me. I need to know where that UFO is going! I follow it up the stairs, gripping onto the bannister with my clammy hands. This is fun! I think to myself.
I reach the top of the stairs, and the UFO disappears.
"Hey, you cheeky little shit! Come back!" I say the air, with a little giggle. I stand there for a few seconds, until I hear the growling. The rumbling noise of growling is coming from my bedroom. I am about to investigate, when the source of the sound reveals itself.
The lion crouches down, and crawls closer to me. A wave of fear hits me, and I back away from the lion. It pounces, and I jump backwards with ninja skills. That is when I remember that I am still stood at the top of the stairs.
I hear a crash, a bang, a crack, and everything goes black.
I wake with a banging headache and a blinding light. It takes a few moments for my eyes to adjust to the light, but when they do, I realise I'm in a hospital. The white curtains conceal me from the voices outside. I try to remember how I got here. But I can't. The last thing I can remember is blackness.
Just then the curtains open, and a doctor walks in with my very worried-looking mum behind him.
"How are you feeling, Daniel?" asks the doctor with a piteous look on his face.
"Crap." Is the only thing I can think to say. But it's true.
"How does your head feel?" he asks. What is this? Some sort of interrogation?!
"Crap." I say again. It seems to piss him off a bit. He gives me a serious look.
"I will be back later to check up on you. Try and get some sleep." He says as he leaves. Crap. Why does he have to come back?
My mother approaches me, and sits by the side of hospital bed. I can't tell what expression is on her face. She looks partly worried, but also scared, but most of all she looks disappointed. I know exactly why.
She just stares at me for a minute, as if trying to let me know how she feels before she speaks. I swear, her disappointed glare is burning holes in my face. Scarring me with guilt. At last she speaks.
"We have been so worried, Daniel." She says. Oh god. She only ever calls me 'Daniel' when I'm in deep shit.
"How long have I been out for?" I ask the question that's been bugging me all the time I've been awake.
"About five days." She says shortly. Five whole Days?
And then the worst type of treatment from any parent – the silence treatment. It goes on for ever. Its just a staring contest between me and mum, giving her another excuse to give me disappointed stares. I go to run my hand through my hair, which I always do in awkward situations. But my hand doesn't touch my dark brown hair. It touches a bandage which I didn't know as there until now.
Then I remember more. I remember the lion pouncing. I remember falling down the stairs. Oh.
Then my mum speaks completely out of the blue. "The doctors found traces of cannabis in your system" and that is all she says.
So long for feeling sorry for your son with the cracked skull, mum.