Summary: Max makes David talk about his problems. David's childhood is not as happy as you would think.
Notes: This was one of the hardest chapters I've ever written. Man getting the responses right for this was hard. SO much dialogue. Anyway, I hope you all like the resolve to the last chapter. The next chapter is going to be called Dr. David and Mr. Dan, (nudge, nudge, wink, wink). If anyone knows of any songs that might go well for this let me know! I will for sure have Confrontation in it, but I was thinking about;
I'm the Friend You Need from the MLP movie,
Big and Loud from Cats Don't Dance,
Friends on the Other Side from Princess and the Frog,
Better Than You from Camp Camp (Maybe if I can adapt it?)
This is the Moment from Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Good Company from Oliver and Company (I like to think Max plays piano)
Trust in Me from Jungle Book
Not in Knottingham from Disney's Robin Hood
God Help the Outcasts from Hunchback of Notre Dame
Your Heart Will Lead You from Tigger Movie (Dave Loosemore version)
Once Upon a December from Anatasia
The Bells of Notre Dame from Hunchback of Notre Dame
To name a few as possible songs to have David, Daniel, Max and a couple others sing. I need a finale song too.
The idea is that David lives in Sleepy Peak with his adopted son, Max. Max was abused but the police in the little town never did anything do anything so when David finds out that other children are abused as well in the area he takes it upon himself on impulse, to do something about it. He creates a serum and becomes Daniel. Daniel not only creates a cult of people willing to do whatever he says, he murders the children that David wanted to save. It results in a fight between the two for control. Still trying to figure out if David and Daniel will die like in the musical or if I should save David. Let me know which you would prefer?
Also, if anyone wants to join in on I am part of a Camp Camp Roleplay in the Camp Camp forum labeled Camp Camp RP and we need more people.
"All right you guys. The next couple of days are going to be wilderness survival camp. David has prepared a small booklet of safety and survival tips in them. Any questions?" Gwen looked up from her clipboard at the group.
Preston worriedly raised his hand.
"Yes, Preston?" David walked up to him.
"I was just wondering. How come we aren't allowed to bring anything else with us besides the booklet?"
Space Kid and Dolph nodded in agreement.
"Well, that's because you may not have anything with you if you get stranded in the woods. I'm going to show you how to identify edible plants, how to set hunting traps, carving tools, start a fire, and make a shelter."
David noted that while Nikki was jumping up and down in excitement, the others withheld groans of annoyance. The campers were still worried about him after the incident with Daniel. Max had been keeping a close eye on him especially.
Gwen sighed and threw the clipboard onto the ground.
"Alright, David. Whenever you're ready."
David led the way until they could no longer see the camp. He looked around and spotted an open clearing a couple feet away.
"Come on kids, there's a perfect spot over here!"
They all gathered in the middle of the clearing.
"Okay, when you're lost in the wilderness, what is one of the most important things to do?"
Nikki waved her hand wildly, "Oh, oh, oh! Take notice of your surroundings!"
David propped his arms on his waist.
"Correct, Nikki! It's important to look around and see what your environment is, what resources are around you, and what the weather is like. If you see dark clouds that are low to the ground, that signals rain or storm conditions. Clouds that look like they are clumped and stacked together generally signal that heavy rain and thunder are likely to occur in several hours."
David pointed to the sky. There were some towering clouds above them.
"Does this mean we should get a storm soon?" Harrison questioned.
David nodded.
"I checked the weather before we came and it said it will rain close to evening. We should be done by then and even if it starts to storm sooner, we aren't far from the camp."
Nerris raised her hand next.
"How do you know what plants in the area are safe to eat? I'm not very proficient in druidic teachings so my poison detection is low and so is my flora wisdom."
David pulled out the booklet.
"I made these for you guys to hold onto. Inside shows pictures of common edibles and how to identify them. If you follow the table of contents, it also tells you how to identify poisonous plants. That's actually our first activity. I want you all to find me three edible plants and then bring it here."
The kids dispersed into groups and started combing the area. Max walked over to David and sat down, leaning against his leg. David looked down at Max in surprise.
"You're not gonna try?"
Max shook his head.
"The only time I'm ever camping is here. Besides, I'm more curious about why you know all this shit."
He flipped open the booklet to the table of contents.
"Seriously, tool carving, plant identification, hunting and skinning, shelter building, water-purity identification, shelter-building, you crammed an entire survival encyclopedia into this little thing."
David sighed and picked Max up. Max made a noise of protest but calmed down when David sat down against a tree and let Max lean against him again.
"I found camping to be a lot of fun and did my best to learn as much about it as I could."
Max glared at David.
"You're fucking lying to me, David. Stop pretending to be happy and tell me the truth."
David let the smile fall. He looked at the ground and grabbed a small stick that was next to his foot.
"…Was it what Daniel said?"
David stiffened. Max shifted around so that they were sitting side by side.
"…Yeah. It hit too close to home for me, Max."
Max made a motion with his hand for him to explain further.
David drew two smiling stick people on the dirt with a little person between them.
"What I'm about to tell you, I've never told anyone before. You don't have to keep it a secret but understand it's something I really don't like talking about."
David looked at Max. He saw the poorly disguised concern underneath the glare.
"When I was little, I lived in a small town with my parents not too far from here. We weren't rich, but we weren't poor either. Mom and Dad loved me very much and we always went to town or played games or watched movies. One day, my parents had the idea of taking a late-night stroll. It was a warm night in the summer, and there was a possibility of seeing a meteor shower even though it was the full moon."
He started drawing again. Max sat on his hands and knees to get a better look.
"We found a spot just outside the woods where we could lay down and watch the sky. It was beautiful. I remember how I got distracted by some fireflies and started running around trying to catch them."
A large snarling wolf was now portrayed by the family. David rested the tip of the stick on the ground.
"I never saw it coming."
He wiped away a stray tear on his cheek.
"I was attacked by a large gray wolf. I couldn't hear anything over the roaring of the blood in my ears. I was bitten on the shoulder before I could dodge. The wound bled terribly and burned like acid. I passed out from the pain."
He brushed his hand over the drawings.
"I woke up in the hospital and was released to the care of my parents shortly after. At the time, I thought the worst I had gotten was a fear of large dogs and the scar. My parents were kind to me and catered to me. It wasn't until a month later that I realized something else."
He drew a moon at the top corner.
"On the night of the full moon, I transformed into a wolf. It was the first time I ever transformed and it was painful. My parents rushed in after hearing me scream. When I was finally able to stand, I looked up to see they were terrified of me. I tried to show them that I wasn't going to hurt them but they screamed and locked me in my room. When the morning arose, and I had turned human again, they wouldn't look me in the eye."
"For a whole month, I was locked in the house. They called me a monster, a danger, an animal, a menace, and a beast. If I startled them or disobeyed a rule, I was hit or slapped. I tried everything I could to assure them that I was in control and that I wouldn't hurt them but nothing worked."
David sniffed as more tears fell down his face.
"That explains why you always try so hard to please everyone." Max huffed.
"The next summer they enrolled me at Camp Campbell. They didn't want me in the house so they signed me up for clubs, field trips, whatever they could do to send me away. It's really funny to me how much you remind me of myself."
Max recoiled.
"Uhh, what?"
David chuckled.
"Yep. I hated camp. I hated everyone and everything about it. I never tried to escape like you did but I cussed and sabotaged many of the activities that we had. It was a reminder that my parents didn't want me. Then I met Jasper."
David drew his friend Jasper. Max gasped. David faced him in confusion.
"What's wrong Max?"
Max stuttered.
"N-Nothing! So, you met Jasper. What happened next?"
David's gaze lingered for a moment before he turned back to the drawing.
"I was so mean to him. I always insulted him or played pranks on him, but once during a full moon, I snuck out into the woods to transform and didn't realize that I had woken him up. I didn't hear him following me over my rush to get deep into the forest. When I noticed him standing there in shock after the pain from transforming died down, I expected him to scream and run to camp. Instead, he sat a couple feet away and just waited. He waited until I was comfortable enough to approach him and then assured me that I wasn't a monster; I was radical. After that, we were best friends."
David smiled weakly at the memory.
"Were? What changed?" Max asked.
David stiffened.
"Do you really want to know?"
Max glared at the picture.
"Something tells me he didn't just decide he didn't like you anymore. I feel like it's something big. You're already telling me about your fucking problems so you might as well add it to the list."
David quietly looked at the ground.
"I'm sorry. Today was supposed to be a fun activity and here I am burdening you with my issues. This isn't even an appropriate conversation for a child."
David made to get up but was halted by a hand on his arm.
"Calm the fuck down, David. I asked you remember? Seriously, Sad David is annoying so stop being stupid and spill."
David looked around him. He could see some campers returning to Gwen with items in their hands and Gwen checking it with the book. He sighed and wiped the dirt picture away.
"I told you before that the Order of the Sparrow has been around since I was a camper. Back then, the receiver of the Sparrow had to go on a hike to get a branch from the Sleepy Pine tree and bring it back in order to get a badge for being the best camper. Jasper was voted best camper but I was forced to go along in the hope of getting me to like camp more. Long story short, he fell from a ravine, I used my abilities to track him, and I rescued him from a bear cave. Jasper grew to hate Campbell afterward."
Max rolled his eyes.
"Let me guess, Campbell tried to leave him behind or something right? That man is an asshole."
"Language, Max. Campbell used the experience to help me appreciate camp more. He pretended to not know what to do so that I could use the survival skills camping taught me to find Jasper. At the time, neither of us were aware he had been taken by bears. We only figured it out after we made our way down the ravine and found the tracks."
David sighed at Max's scowl.
"I don't believe you but whatever. I'll find out the truth later. So what happened next?"
"The next night Jasper asked me to come with him to investigate Spooky Island. Campbell used to disappear a lot to Spooky Island at night. Jasper was convinced that Campbell had some big secret and after the incident wanted to get back at him. I almost went but it was a full moon. I couldn't convince J-Jasper to go on a different night so I went into the forest and watched him from the trees as a wolf. J-Jasper set up a canoe and paddled his way to the island. Right before he made it, I think he s-struck a rock in the lake because his c-canoe went down."
David sobbed into his hands.
"I j-jumped into the w-water after him but by the t-time I g-got to where I was sure the c-canoe was, I couldn't f-find him. I-I searched for h-hours but he was g-gone. A-And because I couldn't t-transform back, I couldn't g-get h-help! If I j-just waited o-on the p-pier I c-could've gotten t-there s-sooner or I c-could've j-just gone w-with him a-anyway, he n-never would've d-drowned!"
He broke down. David felt hands tug on his vest. He looked up at Max who was looking at him with concern. Max looked back and forth several times from David to the ground.
"Just this once, David, I'll let you hug me. Don't look too deeply into this, okay?"
David stared at Max, tears still running down his face. Max looked embarrassed but made no complaint when David cried harder and pulled him close.
"…You know you've gotta stop blaming yourself for this right?" Max mumbled.
David shook his head.
"It is my fault, Max. I've accepted it though. I'm crying because it always hurts to think of Jasper, that's all."
Max growled, "If you say that one more time, I'm going to sick Nikki and Gwen on you. It is not your fault, it was an accident. God, David. You blame yourself for every little thing that goes wrong and you exhaust yourself in an attempt to please everybody. I get it now that it's from your shitty childhood but I always call you out when you're wrong, so get it through your thick-ass skull that you're fucking wrong."
David hugged him tighter. Max patted his arm.
"That everything, Camp Man?"
David chuckled at the slightly fond way Max said his nickname.
"Not everything. That contributed to it, but it's not the whole reason why I have depression."
Max jerked away from him to face him.
"Wait, you've been diagnosed?"
David nodded, "I saw a doctor when I was 18. He diagnosed me with depression and anxiety."
Max was floored.
"That was fucking traumatizing already! What the fuck happened that was so much worse than that?"
David looked up at the clearing, everyone was gone, probably with Gwen somewhere doing the next activity.
"…When I was 10, there was another werewolf attack. The news claimed a wild wolf had attacked a farm, killing the family that lived there and slaughtering several of their animals but my family and I knew the truth. They were terrified. Even though I was locked in my room that night, they were positive that I was the one who did it. The night after the attack, I was trying to fall asleep when I heard my parents walk past my room. Max, I don't think I've ever been more scared in my life than the moment my dad kicked my door open and pointed a shotgun at me."
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait…"
Max grabbed David's bandanna and got in his face.
"You're dad. Tried to SHOOT YOU?! WITH A FUCKING SHOTGUN?!"
David nervously pushed Max back down.
"…Did shoot me with a shotgun."
Max's jaw dropped.
"What the fuck?! Okay, hold on. I need a fucking drink."
David frowned.
"Max, how do you even know that phrase?"
Max rolled his eyes.
"David, that really isn't what you should be focusing on. You just told me your shitty dad shot you when you were my age."
David smiled sadly.
"I panicked when I heard the click of the safety being turned off. I broke the window with a lamp in my room and climbed out just as my dad barged in. His first shot missed me and my panic to escape helped me transform back into a wolf. As I ran out into the forest, my dad took one last shot and it hit me right in the back of my leg. After that, I lived in the woods while attending school and camp before I got a job here."
Max looked at him in sadness.
"And I thought my parents were shitty." He mumbled.
That startled David.
"What do you mean by that?"
Max put his hands up.
"I-I said your parents were shitty."
David narrowed his eyes at Max.
"Wolf-hearing Max. I know what I heard. Do your parents hurt you?"
Max glowered at him.
"Damn it. No, they don't. They just don't care. It's fine. They're not like your parents by far."
David turned stern.
"That's neglect and it doesn't make it okay. Max, please tell me the truth. Do your parents neglect you?"
Max glared at the ground.
"Why would you care? You're only asking because you're legally required to."
David brushed his hand through Max's hair. Max half-heartedly shoved his hand away.
"Remember when I was brainwashed? You're the one that went on about how I legitimately care about the well-being of all my campers. If you saw it then. Why do you deny it now?"
Max buried his face in his arms, knees pulled close.
"Because it's too good to be true. Even you aren't as happy as you portray. Yet, you do stupid shit like this. I don't understand how a person like you fucking exists."
David hugged Max.
"You know, after everything I've been through, I learned a couple things. I learned how to survive in the woods, I learned that the world isn't always kind, and I learned that friends are just family that you choose. I don't consider my parents family but Gwen, all of you campers, Campbell, even the Quartermaster, you guys are my family and any world that gives me a family as great as this, is worth all the trouble I had to go through to get it."
David said nothing as Max leaned further into his side. He continued to brush his hand through Max's hair in a comforting manner.
"You sound like a dumbass, David, but I'm glad you care."
When the day was over and Gwen made no complaint about his lack of help, David realized she had been listening from the beginning. She said nothing when they returned to camp and the kids went to their tents early when it started raining.
David checked on the campers one last time before heading to his cabin. He thought he had seen Gwen enter earlier but if she did, she was gone by the time he arrived. As he opened the door he noticed a steaming mug on his desk. Hot chocolate had never tasted so good.