Archive of Our Own ^beta

Scars

Scars are etchings of history, whether they are physical or emotional. They show the experiences that have left marks: the impactful ones. They both show travels through pain, although visual and internal scars show often widely different characteristics from one another. Physical scars clearly show the accidents or pain that people were put through, but the fact that they are there shows how they are strong and healed. Emotional scars are more covert and often hidden. And oftentimes, these scars are still open, not healed as the physical ones are. Emotional scars take learning, compassion, and empathy, but most of all growth. However, sometimes physical scars may appear healed on the surface, but their emotional ties are still open. People are never perfect, and their scars still bleed.

Danny had been in one too many accidents throughout his young years: tripping down the stairs and cutting his knee open, a nearly lost finger when cutting potatoes, thousands of paper cuts, a cut on the forehead from a flying tennis racquet. The thing connecting these scars is that the pain was only temporary — they had no emotional scars. Despite that, they still made up Danny. They told a story of his accidental misfortunes, times to look back on, and laugh. They captured times in history. They showed that he wasn’t perfect — no one is — and that being vulnerable is not something to look down on. Scars are a part of what makes a person who they are. They are a part of what makes Danny who he was.

But, when Danny went through the most paramount incident of his life, the scars disappeared. The scar across the knee: gone. The scar and permanent crookedness of his finger: gone and suddenly a thing of the past. The papercuts that told stories of arts and crafts, reading, and studying: gone. A map of history disappeared in a blink of an eye; they were all replaced with a crisscrossing Lichtenberg scar. Suddenly, it seemed as if Danny had lost a part of his past, a part of his story. Who knew scars, with all of their pain, could be so defining?

It also made Danny feel even more divided and isolated from who he was and how he was before everything changed. Gaining a whole new aspect to oneself never seemed so isolating. It was as if he was being told to forget what he had been through and what he had done — as if he was supposed to write an entirely new life. This emotional scar, although not obviously present, began to haunt Danny.

More and more, he began to be separated from his life before. His schooling declined — hopes of astrophysics declined too. He spent more time protecting the town — his relationship with his family dwindled. He was constantly busy with ghostly matters — he had little time for his own passions and recreational time with his friends. The incident changed everything. And although it only left a singular physical scar, it also left a gigantic widening emotional one.

After almost every ghost fight, another visible scar would appear on Danny, but he didn’t realize it was worsening the emotional one. Danny was littered with scars of his near past and present but not his far past, he was losing himself along with it.

But then, Danny’s eyes opened, and he saw reality as it was. He was losing what and who he cared most about. His life had flip-flopped right in front of his eyes without him knowing. It was then that he knew he had to make a change. He had to heal the scar that formed that fatal day.
Danny focused more on enjoying and improving both halves of his life. He could continue his self-assigned duty of protector. He could regain his role and time with his family and friends. He could spend time doing the things he loves and enjoys, new and old. He can grow even more by not splitting his life and prioritizing one over the other. Although the scars of his past are gone, it doesn’t mean that he needs to forget them and all that they hold. Danny knows that to be the best for himself and those he loves, he needs to embrace all of who he is. Instead of focusing on being one type of Danny, he needs to cultivate Danny of the present. He needs to merge all that he is into one and reflect who he truly is. He can’t forget his past, but he also can’t forget his present. By remembering and cherishing all he is, he will make an optimal future.

Scars tell a story of pain, destruction, healing, and growth. They show a collection of stories and character. Scars are what help make a person who they are, and Danny finally realized that.