_{going dark was done only when it was needed. no contact with anyone. not until he was healed; it lasted to weeks to a month. maybe more, he didn’t really care about the timing.} 

    _{the few days was the hardest. scratching at his skin the moment he woke up; something was there that shouldn’t been. he tore at his flesh to get the bullet out, but it had gone right on through. whatever he wanted to get was lodged too deep in – no, it was too painful to get out.}

    _{by the end of the first week, he was able to walk with the pain he was in, by the end of the second, it had gone down to bearable levels. by the next, he was able to ignore most of it. drinking nor pills didn’t help and leaving the body he was in wouldn’t do him any good. he didn’t want the one who did this to track him down in another body — nor, did he really have the energy either.} 

    _{it was a loop and during that time he drank — ran through all his liquor in five days, and now he was finally showing up at her doorstep. he was so foolish, to think that he could contact anyone; his father would laugh, so would anyone else. no, he was here not to demand help, but rather… to plea for it.}

     _{‘mom,’ he finally managed to get out as he leaned against the door, ‘i need your help.’}

_{// @dusttcdusk}