9000 Days
A/N – Like my other story, Suddenly David, it seems that Dave has taken this one over too. I had an outline and everything, but he wanted more. He wanted to tell his story. So here we go. This chapter is how Dave came to be standing at that corner that night.
Ukunqoba (To Conquer)
Dave couldn't quite believe it when he found himself sitting across a table from Kurt at a diner just down the street from the theater. There hadn't been a grand reunion, or some sappy hugging and kissing. Kurt had simply smiled and asked him if he had wanted to get a cup of coffee. So here he was telling his story to the man who had started it all.
After you left McKinley, I thought I'd be okay. I mean, in my mind, the problem was gone. I could just go on with my life. I seemed to just go around on autopilot. My grades did go back up (yeah, can you believe I got As and Bs?)
Anyway, I managed to get through high school and even managed to get out of Lima. I wanted a new start. Got a hockey scholarship Syracuse. I was undecided for a while, but finally decided on History with a minor in Psychology. I guess it was some weird attempt to figure myself out.
So anyway, in the summer after my junior year, I was looking for a job. I tended to try to get jobs over the summers so I didn't have to go home. That summer my psychology professor told me about this program for At Risk kids. It's kind of a summer camp for these kids to get them out of the cities and show them there's more to life.
I signed up and it was an eye opener. I saw myself in these kids. In the beginning of the summer, they all had so much anger. A lot of them were bullies, on the road to a life in a gang or worse. I helped out in the counseling office and also coached some of the kids in roller hockey. But they seemed to be better when they left. When school started up again that fall, I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to help these kids.
The following summer, after I had graduated, I went back to the camp, now as a fully qualified counselor. I listened to the kids tell their stories and I could actually relate to them. They seemed to connect with me when I told them how I had been in high school.
I worked for the organization for a couple of years. They had other programs that ran during the year. I was really making something of myself. It was just last year that I decided to come out. I knew who I was finally. I couldn't keep telling these kids to be true to themselves and not care what the people around them thought, if I wasn't doing it myself. It wasn't some big party or announcement, just a decision in my own head. But it was almost like walking out of a prison I hadn't even known I was in.
This past summer I was working with a group of kids. I told them my story and one of them asked if I had ever seen the guy I bullied again. They told me I should try to find him.
So after camp ended, I decided to go for it.
A/N – Bit of a change in tone for this one - next chapter is back to our normally scheduled programming. I am really not sure how I feel about this chapter. I am feeling woefully inadequate after reading some other fics today.