Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Everything was a blur. One minute David was crying, the next he was cutting, and now he was having a serious talk with his mom and dad. He could barely hear a word they were saying, unless he really focused.

"You can't just-"

"How could you do this to-"

Suddenly everything fell into frame. His mother sniffled

"David, we really thought you would come to us with this. Why didn't you? Oh god why didn't you talk to us first??"She was crying. David shrugged.  

"David, are you even listening to us?" That was his dad now. David nodded his head in response. His dad sighed and left the room. His mother followed, but not without taking all of his blades. 

It was then that David curled up on his bed and silently sobbed. Outside of his open door, he could hear his father beginning to cry. His mother picked up the phone and began to talk to who he believed to be Hilda's mom, Johanna. 

"Mum, it's for you!" Hilda called throughout the apartment after answering the ringing of the landline. 

"Who is it?" Johanna called back.

"It's David's mum. She sounds upset, but she won't tell me why." Hilda stretched the phone chord from the hallway to the living room to look at her mother. She had a very worried expression on her face.

"Alright, let me see what's wrong." She took the phone and shooed Hilda away so she could speak in private. "Hello?"

"Oh thank god you're home! Something happened with David and I just don't know what to do and I figured you would know how to handle this sort of... situation so I called you." Johanna could hear that David's mother had been crying.

"Okay, what exactly happened with David?" Johanna was expecting a bug attack, a radical idea, or even a clumsy accident. She was not expecting what she heard next. 

"Well I knocked on his door and he didn't answer, so I just walked into his room and... and.." she let out a sob, "he had  a razor blade and he was cutting himself! Oh Johanna what do I do?" 

"Okay, first breathe. Can you do that for me?" David's mother said yes and Johanna could hear deep breaths on the other side of the phone. "Good. Now did you take away his blades?" 

"Yes, I searched his room and I... I believe I've found all of them." 

Hilda waited impatiently as her mother spoke on the phone with David's mom. All she heard was her mother saying something about David and she grew increasingly worried the more she sat around. 

"Tonto, tell mum I'm going to see Frida." She said to the nisse as she packed her bag. 

"Will do!"

"Hilda, I really don't think this is a good idea. Frida is training for her mastery in magic and I don't think we should distract her!" Alfur was very concerned, but Hilda ignored him and left anyway. 

Chapter Text

"Frida, something's wrong with David!" Hilda stated, out of breath. She had ran all the way to the library to find her magical friend.

"What do you mean?" Frida said, frustrated that Hilda had interrupted her spell, but glad that she came to inform her of their mutual friend's situation. Twig, who was now as tall as Frida's hip, was now nudging her towards the door out of the library. 

"Well, his mum called and she was very upset but wouldn't tell me why and when my mum was talking to her I heard her ask 'what happened with David?' So I'm worried and I think we should go make sure he's okay." 

"Okay, let's go then!" Frida said as they started to run out of the library. 

Knocking on the door of David's home, Frida had a very bad feeling in her gut. She wanted to believe it was nothing but her witch's intuition had never failed her. 

Just as Frida decided it had been enough knocking, the door creaked open. It was David's dad. 

"Hilda? Frida? What are you doing here? You should leave..."

Hilda spoke up next, "we want to see David. We need to know that he's okay."

"Did Johanna send you? She didn't tell you what happened did she? Please tell me she didn't." He looked about ready to break down right then and there. 

"No," Frida began, "but we have a right to see our friend, don't you think?" She wanted to use a sleeping spell to get past this protective father, but she knew it would be best not to. She shelved the idea for later use.

David's father let out a small sigh. "Let me speak with my wife, first." And with that, he shut the door, leaving them to their own thoughts.

"Honey, do you really think he's ready for guests? I mean he's not well!"

David's mom pursed her lips for a moment as she thought it over. "Well, maybe they can help him through this.. rough patch."

"Alright," David's dad turned to get the door again, "I'll let them in."

Outside David's room, Hilda could hear sniffles. Frida tried knocking on the door, but it slid open when she did. David's room was not an easy sight to take in. Hilda first saw the trash and dirty clothes on the floor. Next, she saw books and papers strewn about the room. Finally, she saw David curled up around himself in an unmade bed. Frida and Hilda exchanged a worried glance at each other.

"David?" Frida entered the room, trying her best to avoid the trash on the floor. Hilda followed.

David hummed a reply. 

Hilda picked up David's cassette player off the floor and placed it on the nearest surface - David's dresser - and moved closer to David. "Your dad told us what happened..." she then took a seat on David's bed. Frida did the same.

David covered his eyes with his arms and groaned loudly. 

"David, please talk to us." Frida made an effort with no avail. "Okay, fine. Just answer me one question: why?"

After a long silence, David finally sat up on his elbows and looked at his friends. He looked like he would on a grumpy morning. Eyebrows furrowed, mouth in a tight frown. "You want to know why? I'll tell you why. It's because I'm a horrible insufferable coward and a loser. I can't do anything right. I mess everything up! I don't even know why you two are friends with an awful person like me!" He then hid his face in his hands and began to cry once more.