Chapter 11 - Daniel Chose Treatment Over Running
Daniel could have disappeared again.
He almost did.
The morning he was discharged, Laura found him staring at a bus
schedule.
“Where?”
“Anywhere.”
“No.”
He laughed sadly.
“You don’t get to order me around.”
“Correct.”
Laura sat beside him.
“But Evan loves you. If you vanish again, he’ll think he failed.”
Daniel’s face collapsed.
That reached him.
He entered a recovery program with housing support.
Not because Laura rescued him.
Because he agreed to go.
Evan visited under adult supervision.
At first, he tried to bring money.
Daniel refused.
“Keep it.”
“For what?”
“The bike.”
Evan looked down.
“I don’t really want it anymore.”
Daniel smiled.
“That’s okay. Save for something else.”
Evan thought about it.
“Maybe college.”
Daniel laughed.
“You’re thirteen.”
“College is expensive.”
Laura covered her face.
Her child had inherited anxiety about money far too early.
She made herself a promise.
May you like
Evan would learn responsibility.
But he would also be allowed to be thirteen.
