Another chapter already. This is what you get when I have a sick day.
Disclaimer: If I owned it, Niff would be canon.
TW: Eating disorders, self harm, depression, attempted suicide.
The next morning was hell. And for Jeff, that was putting it lightly. After a somewhat uneventful breakfast, Jeff had his first counselling session with Trent.
"Jeff, take a seat." Trent said warmly, letting Jeff into one of the therapy rooms. "Today, we're just going to focus on why you're here."
"Because my parents can't accept who I am and should never have been allowed to reproduce." Jeff cut in.
"Ok. Let's look past that. Your eating disorders, depression, self harm, suicide attempts. What caused them?" Trent asked.
"My sadistic parents." Jeff commented.
"You need to go deeper than that. What did they do to you to cause you to become like this? Is it for attention?" Trent questioned.
"Why would you think that? It's not for attention. Why does everyone think that?" Jeff shouted, standing up quickly and knocking his chair over in the process.
"Jeff, calm down. You know every reason why you are like this and why you are here. I need you to open up about it, so we can help you get better." Trent said softly.
"Why do I need to tell anyone? It's hurt me living through it before, why do you want to put me through it again?" Jeff cried, running from the room, dropping his inhaler on his way out. He ran from the building, right to the bottom of the garden, where there was a tall tree. He climbed up the tree and sat on one of the higher branches, wheezing heavily as he leant back against the trunk. He was crying the whole time he was up there.
Trent went into his office. There was only one person he knew of that might be able to help Jeff. He picked up his phone off the desk and dialled the number. "Hello, David? We have a new patient in. I think you would be able to help him."
David sat on the branch next to Jeff. "Hi, Jeff. I'm David." He introduced himself. "You dropped this when you came out here." He passed Jeff the inhaler, which the young boy took quickly, and relaxed a little as his breathing returned to normal. "Trent asked me to talk to you. 6 years ago, almost to the date, I was sat exactly where you are. I'd just run from my first counselling session. At the time, Trent was one of the assistant counsellors. I had been through so much, but once I opened up to him, he helped me so much." He looked Jeff in the eye. "Eating disorders, self harm, depression and attempting suicide is what brought me here. Does that sound familiar?" He asked, before continuing without waiting for Jeff's answer. "My parents never really accepted the fact that I'm gay. They didn't seem to care about me. They got sick of me and what I was doing to myself, so they sent me here. I've not seen them since."
"It started when I came out to my parents." Jeff whispered.