Hello everyone! Here's chapter 10! Hope you enjoy it!
This is the chapter where everything starts changing majorly. Please be respectful about the topics discussed, and read at your own discretion.
PSI-Triforce: I knew having these types of themes in a story where he was so young was risky, but it felt right to me. I wanted to show how these types of problems, like self-harm and depression, can affect anyone, regardless of age, gender, situation, etc… As the story progresses, and in the sequel, these themes will continue to change and develop. I hope it works out well and is informative; that's been my main goal. I'm glad you're enjoying the story and are interested in what's happening. :)
Thank you all for reading; please continue to review!
Have a nice day!
- Hunter
The night before, when Starfire had headed to bed after the late-night rainforest documentary, she saw Garfield fast asleep in his makeshift bed that was still in her room. His bed, which consisted of a few extra couch cushions with blankets on top, sat in the corner of her room. He was facing the wall, curled up in a small ball with the blankets covering the majority of him, his stuffed bunny lying next to him. Unbeknownst to Starfire, Garfield wasn't fast asleep, but rather crying softly to himself as he stared at the dark wall. The documentary had triggered bad memories for him, causing him to go into a state of panic. He was eventually able to fall asleep after he calmed down a bit, but he was still in pain.
When Starfire awoke mid-morning the next day, she looked over to see that Garfield was not in his bed, nor was he anywhere in the room.
"He must have gotten up early today. Perhaps he is feeling better!" Starfire said to herself, delighted at the possibility that her young friend was feeling well. She got up and got ready, then proceeded to head down to the Main Ops room, where she found Robin, Cyborg, and Raven. Raven was at the kitchen counter sipping on an herbal tea, and Cyborg and Robin were on the couch playing a video game. "Good morning, friends!" Starfire beamed as she entered the room.
"Morning, Star," Cyborg and Robin said.
"Good morning," Raven muttered between sips.
Starfire flew over to the couch and took a seat next to the boys. After looking around the room briefly, she noticed the absence of a certain green child.
"Have you seen Garfield this morning?" she asked, assuming that he'd be out here.
"Isn't he still in bed?" Robin asked.
"No. When I awoke this morning, he was not in bed. I assumed he was out here," she responded, now catching the full attention of her friends.
"He hasn't been out here yet, and we've been here for a while," Cyborg said, pausing the video game.
"Maybe he's in the bathroom?" Raven suggested.
"No, when I passed by the bathroom, the door was open. He was not there," Starfire said.
"I have a bad feeling about this…," Cyborg said.
"Split up and search for him. Starfire, search the outside of the tower. Raven, search the top floors. Cyborg, search the Gym, Game room, and other rooms he seemed interested in. I'll search the Evidence room and Lobby area," Robin ordered, also sharing the same bad feeling as Cyborg. The teens headed off to their respective search areas. Minutes later, their reports started going off over their communicators.
"He is not out here," Starfire announced.
"Not anywhere up here either," Raven said.
"Same here," Cyborg responded.
"I haven't found him yet either," Robin stated. "Where else could he be?" he said out loud, thinking.
"We haven't checked the basement yet," Raven said.
"Why would he go down to the basement? There's nothing down there for him to do," Cyborg questioned.
"It's not like he's been seeking out socialization lately. He's been wanting to be alone. He can easily be alone down there," Raven countered.
"Worth a shot to check," Robin said, "Let's meet there and go down together."
The four teens headed for the basement, meeting at the elevator. They went down, approaching the room. They came to the door and opened it with a creak. The basement was dark inside, cobwebs covering the boxes that littered the floor, making it cluttered and mazelike.
The teens stayed together as they went through, with Starfire and Raven searching in the air and Cyborg and Robin searching on the ground. After a small amount of searching, Raven spotted him.
"He's over there," she said, pointing to the far corner of the basement, boxes surrounding him on three sides. It was a very well-concealed spot, one only easily noticeable from above. The teens rushed over to the spot, taking to the ground on foot as they got closer. They turned the corner, finally spotting Garfield.
He was sitting in the corner between two boxes, his knees up against his chest. His jacket was set next to him in a messy clump of fabric, and it appeared to be saturated in something, but they were unsure as to what.
"Hey Gar, what you doing down here?" Cyborg asked the boy, who didn't respond. They then noticed that he was shaking, quite violently actually, as well as crying. "Garfield, are you okay?" he tried asking again, stepping closer to the boy.
"Get away," Garfield said, his voice weak, but threatening. Cyborg continued to approach despite his warning.
"Gar –," he started, but stopped when he noticed something more alarming as his eyes adjusted to the darkness more. The boy's shirt and shorts had blood on them, and he was sitting on small puddles of blood as well. That's also what his jacket was covered in. The other teens quickly noticed this as well, and started approaching the boy.
"Garfield, what happened –," Raven started, but soon stopped. Garfield slowly and shakily stood up, one hand supporting himself on the boxes beside him, the other holding out a bloody knife pointed towards the teens.
"I said get away. Now," he repeated, staring at the teens. His whole body was shaking, and his skin was much paler than normal. Not only were his clothes covered in blood, but also his arms. He had fresh cuts all up and down his forearms, and they were surrounded by dark scars and scabs of the same size. His wrists had deep vertical gashes in them, blood coming out at an alarmingly fast pace.
The teens gasped when they saw this. Since he was in possession of a weapon and pointing it at them, they stopped approaching for the moment. They knew that he wouldn't use it on them, but they knew better to test the limits of the situation at hand.
"Garfield, drop the knife now," Robin said sternly, but compassionately.
"Please, let us help you," Starfire added.
"No!" Garfield screamed at the teens, his crying intensifying. "Go away now!"
Raven took one step forward towards the boy, her hands in front of her as if to calm the frantic boy.
"Garfield, you need to stop this and calm down so we can help you," she said, trying to sound as peaceful as possible.
"You don't get it! None of you do! Just go away and let me be!" he screamed. His shaking was getting worse by the moment as more blood flowed out. The small puddles of blood were starting to grow larger as the blood dripped from his wrists. He started muttering unintelligible things to himself as he twitched in a very jerky way, and his voice kept going from a quick whisper to a louder yelling, back and forth over and over again. His eyes had this sad, wild look in them, frantically darting back and forth in front of him.
Robin started to approach closer now, and was within about six feet of the boy before he started shouting again.
"Get back! Now! I'm warning you!" he yelled, a low growl emanating from his throat.
"Put the knife down now, Garfield. Stop this!" Robin told him once again.
"I can't…I can't keep doing this. It's not worth it. It just…no! NO! You don't get it! Stop!" he shouted. "I can't handle this anymore. No…more…"
The teens slowly got closer to the boy in an attempt to stop him and take the knife. Garfield, noticing this, brought the knife up to his throat.
"If you come any closer, I'll do it. Get back now," he threatened. He had an intense look in his green eyes as the tears ran down his cheeks.
The teens stopped approaching him, now unsure of what to do. Every action of theirs could end badly at this point.
"Please, Garfield, don't do it! We wish to help!" Starfire pleaded with him.
"You can't help, no one can hel-lp!" he screamed. He was starting sweat, and his words were slurring. "You can't helpm.. me! I can't do it any-y, more!"
"Please let us try. I promise –," Cyborg started.
"No-o, just leavem, leave me…alon-ne," he started swaying back in forth, his color going from pale green to almost white very quickly. He put the majority of his weight on his hand that was still supporting him against the crates, but it wasn't enough. Suddenly, the boy's knees collapsed underneath him and he fell to the side and onto the floor, hitting his head on impact. The knife fell out of his hand and landed in front of him. He started to weakly reach for it, but Robin ran up and kicked it out of the way before he could touch it.
Cyborg picked him up, laying him on his back with his now bleeding head on Cyborg's lap. Robin and Raven took to the sides of Garfield, and helped to hold his arms and torso down. Both of them used their capes to try to stop the blood flow from his wrists, but it was soaking through. Starfire, sitting next to Robin, kept the boy's legs still. He was still conscious, but barely. Despite this lack of clear consciousness, he was putting up a fight. His crying intensified into frantic screaming cries, with choking sobs intertwined between gasps. His whole body was twitching and shaking, and his hands kept clenching up over and over again.
"No! No, letm, let me..go!" he said, trying to fight his way back up. The teens held him down strongly though, and he couldn't get up. He was too hysterical to transform into an animal, so he unwillingly remained in his human form.
"Please, Garfield, calm down. It will be okay," Starfire said to him, trying to keep his weakly kicking legs still. Tears were streaming down her face at the sight of her friend in so much pain and despair. Cyborg was tearing up in his human eye despite his best intentions not to. Raven hid in her cloak's hood, concealing the emotions that were apparent on her face as she felt Garfield's inner turmoil on a deeper level. Robin clenched his jaw in an attempt to stay strong in the situation, but it was obvious that he was in pain at the sight as well.
"No, no, it won't, it'll neve-er," he said quickly. He then started to incoherently mutter things to himself again, his words broken and sharp. "They were all wrong! They said it wouldn't-t be ba-ad, but it was! They lied to m-me!"
Robin opened a pouch on his utility belt, pulling out a small vial of clear fluid and a syringe. Garfield, too panicky to notice, did not fight Robin as he injected the fluid into the boy's bicep.
"I don't want to go ba-ack there! I don't belong anym-more!" His head was swinging from side to side, as if the violent shaking of his head would make them all go away.
The fluid, which is a quick-acting sedative, started working immediately. The boy's fights against the teens weakened quickly, and it was no longer difficult to hold him down. His words were quiet, sad mumbles at this point, and he was sobbing profusely, very distraught. Starfire gently rubbed the shin of his leg in an attempt to calm and soothe him. Blood covered him and the teens, as well as the floor. His mumbles and shaking slowed, and soon stopped as unconsciousness took over. The teens looked at the still boy in front of them in silence for a brief moment.
"I've kept this sedative in my belt ever since the beast incident, in case he or any of us ever required immediate sedation again for whatever reason," Robin said quietly as he put the vial and syringe back in his belt. "This particular sedation will last him for a few hours." The teens nodded in understanding.
"C'mon, we need to get him to the med bay now," Cyborg said as he picked up the small boy in his arms. He seemed so tiny and frail, tear marks drying down his pale face. His breathing was slow and his pulse was weak, struggling from the heavy blood loss. Cyborg started rushing to the med bay, the others quickly heading behind him.