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The Scent Of You Part 2 – Damaged //Darren, oh God, Darren!// was the only coherent thought Daniel’s mind could make out. It was becoming a chant, a never-ending loop screaming silently, racing through his mind. //What have they done to you?! Darren, love…// Brackenledge Mental Correction Facility. The walls were bare and the furnishings nothing more than smooth planes and pointed edges, all in a mint cr�me shade that blended with the olive painted walls. It smelled plain and full of disinfectant. Hospital smells. Darren’s warm, bubbly persona shouldn’t have been there in that prison of cold, unfeeling tones. But he was, right there, huddled on the slight bench in a mental ward outfit with speckled light green patterns, and his wrists were padded with layers of gauze. Darren’s beautiful face was marred by swollen pink and red scratches, a nasty one in particular cutting along the corner of his eye from brow to cheek, and his pale skin was bruised with subtle purple blotches. //Omigod, his hair!// Daniel shrieked internally. Darren had grown his hair out and back to his natural color, but now it looked like some weed wacker was taken to it. The blond strands were un-evenly long and short. Some places looked like a clipper had been there, a blade that had bit shallowly into his scalp, leaving jagged maroon indentions. //Fuck fuck FUCK! What the hell happened?// his mind reeled, but when he opened his mouth to speak, no sound came out. Finally, Darren who had been staring down at his hands lying limply in his lap, looked up, and his once deep blue eyes had lost their shine. His eyes were muddy, lifeless, and painfully bloodshot that it hurt Daniel to look at him that he had to turn away, choking back a sob. "I-" Darren swallowed audibly, pressing his lips together and working his mouth so that he could bring himself to speak. And when he did, it was barely above a raspy whisper. "I’m sorry Jonesy. Do I look that ugly?" That did it. Daniel broke down, collapsing to Darren’s feet as Darren hunched over him almost protectively, but neither would touch the other. "Oh no Darren, you’re not ugly at all!" he said, "You’re beautiful." Darren smiled sadly and reached out with one hand to touch his blond head, but stopped, and just hovered above his head for a moment. "You don’t have to lie to make me happy, Jonesy." Came the small, sad reply. "I’m not lying." Daniel mumbled and dried his silent tears away with the sleeve of his jacket. "Darren," he began and looked up into those haunting, bloodshot eyes, "what the hell happened to you?" Darren merely shook his head. "Everything happened, Jonesy." That same line again. Seeing Darren in such a horrible and wrecked state, and then hearing him speak like that, it scared Daniel shitless. Not only was he worried for Darren’s physical state, but he was also worried for his friend’s mental state of mind. //Oh Daz, please, talk to me. I don’t think I can ask again what happened…and if you give me that answer again, and if you turn away from my help….// he let the thought hang in the air. "Jonesy," Darren turned his gaze to his friend’s emerald eyes and tried fighting the words out before they got stuck in his throat, "I was hurt." Daniel nodded, each second heartbreaking for him to bear to see his friend like this. "Daniel.." he breathed but couldn’t finish, giving into sobs that wracked his entire body. Daniel pulled Darren’s head to rest against his chest protectively, whispering assuring words into his ear. "It’s all right, Daz, cry it out." "You – you don’t understand…..I.." more sobbing ensued as the nurses decided to crowd around and have a look at what all the fuss was about. Daniel shot them a look before returning to comfort Darren, and the nurses reluctantly scattered. "What is it, Dar?" Darren shook his head weakly but defiantly, the odds and ends of what was left of his spiky and at the same time long hair rubbing against Daniel’s exposed flesh at the collar of his jacket. Daniel tentatively laced his fingers through that hair, moving his fingers in massaging, circular motions as Darren’s sobs grew quieter. Finally, the smaller man could speak. "On my way to visit you…got jumped by thieves…then..beaten. Oh God, it was awful, Jonesy." He balled his hands into fists and wiped furiously at the drying tears down his cheeks. It took all the courage Darren could muster to just look his friend in the eye. He didn’t want to see revulsion there, or disgust, at how his appearance was or at what he was going to tell him next. "Straight out of some movie..blindfolded, sitting in the dark for..hours..God, they chopped off my hair…" he picked wearily at a long strand of wavy blond hair, suddenly finding it amazingly interesting as he trailed off into a hiccup. Something like a whimper issued form Darren as he suddenly tugged hard on his hair in a fit of frustration and anger as if he were going to tear it out. Daniel pulled him closer until he was practically smothering him against his chest and Darren’s hands were crushed between them in the process. The singer cried some more into his friend’s shoulder helplessly. //So fragile…// Daniel thought as he encircled the older man with his arms. "They finally took the blindfold off…and evidently knew-knew I was Darren Hayes of Savage Garden, and..I have no clue what they wanted. But—" his voice tensed, getting shakier by the moment. Daniel kept soothing him with gentle rubs and touches, urging him on. "But they handed me ..a knife to use to cut off the ropes that were binding-binding my ankles, and said they’d be back. That was it. They locked me up in some closet..-and- I was going insane with fear, Jonesy. I tried to kill myself." Darren pulled back from Daniel, or rather, pushed him away, and held out his wrists for him to see. Daniel swallowed his gasp and nodded mutely. This was too much, way too much for Darren or him to handle. "But why, Daz?" Suddenly Darren’s eyes flared to life with something resembling anger, or annoyance, and he turned his back on his friend, snapping at him, "You tell me what you’d do if you were in my position!" Daniel mentally kicked himself and reached out to grab either side of Darren’s arms, turning him around to face him again. He rubbed the length of his arms up and down soothingly, "I’m sorry Darren, I didn’t mean anything by that. Just-just, lets get you home, forget about all this-" "Forget!" Darren surprised Daniel at how loud his voice suddenly became, "How the hell am I supposed to forget about this!" he gestured wildly to himself, his tattered and broken body, his hack-sawed hair. "I’m sorry, Daz. I just don’t how to handle this..you..like this." Daniel sputtered and tried pulling Darren into his arms again, but the smaller man shrugged him off, standing. "You’re right, I should get home…crawl into bed." He whispered. These moods, just the mental state Darren was in, was frightening to Daniel. He truly did not know how to handle it, and he didn’t think Darren could tell him how to handle it either. "Yeah." Daniel nodded slightly, speaking to himself more than anyone, and took Darren’s arm and assisted him to the front desk. They signed Darren out, but not before a doctor handed Daniel some medications. "He needs to take these at least once a day, to relax his mind after all he’s been through. They act like sleeping pills, so it would be best he takes them before bed." The doctor, Mr. Thompson, informed Daniel. Muttering his thanks, Dan carefully slipped his jacket around Darren, who had suddenly become silent and remote, and guided him to the car. The drive back was spent in quiet tension. |
| End of Part Two |