Self-Reflektion

He was forced to watch the time when he was still little. when his parents had still hope he would be remarkable in some way or another, doing their best to nurture him however they could. his younger self was happy with the attention but lacked patience and felt like learning was a bother. so, he started to sabotage himself on purpose.

Thinking he would have more free time instead of work. his childish self thought he covered his intentions well enough and if something went wrong, he could just blame something else. his parents didn't care for circumstances or excuses, though.

They believed firmly that results were entirely the responsibility of the one who had brought them. after one failure too many they changed their tactics. no more special attention. they would just give him tasks and ask for results.

To be completely honest, they probably would have given him help if he had asked but at this point Damian was too prideful. confident to be able to succeed in whatever he wanted. the only reason he had failed in the past was because he wanted to, after all.

Sadly, a childs view of circumstances is as hopelessly naive as it is unquestionably positive. he had never had a strong body and was also lazy whenever it came to physical exercise, so his parents didn't even try to get him into sports.

They saw his mind as the only saving grace he had. with the support gone and only books at his disposal he soon noticed how helpless he was without someone to guide him. his parents also refused to help him unless begged for or get him a tutor until he showed any results by himself.

School was also out of the question because they agreed that the influence of other children would fill his head with notions which would make him want to work even less.

He fell farther and farther behind in his studies and after about two years of this he gave up. he opted to lock himself in his room. only coming out when his parents were not home or at night.

On those rare occasions he would raid the fridge and eat his feelings until he was drowsy enough to go to sleep without being haunted by the failures that had reduced him to what he had become. But even in his sleep it didn't end. He rarely slept for long.

Most of the times he would wake up in a cold sweat after having nightmares which would replace his parents features with demonic depictions while his siblings mocked him for his incompetence.

The fact that he was spiraling into depression went unnoticed by everyone. Marilyn and Arthur Jonson, his parents, we're at a loss and didn't care enough to give proper thought to it so they ignored him.

His siblings, John and Maria, we're talented enough to occupy their attention and with Damian as a cautionary tale they never stepped out of line. despite his perception the two younger children never mocked him.

Because they were very young while Damian still managed to meet the expectations of their parents, they had grown up idolizing him as their big brother. no matter how talented they were his 4 years of advantage where insurmountable in their eyes.

They felt sad when he started to lock himself away and wanted to support him. helping him with his tasks was off the table since they themselves did not understand a word of what he was supposed to study.

Marilyn and Arthur didn't except any of their suggestions either. thinking that if Damian needed his four years younger siblings to fend for him there was no point. he would either succeed by himself or not at all.

The only option they had was trying to drag him out of his room. theoretically they would have had a disadvantage because of their age gap but they were two while also having normal strength for their age.

Damian on the other hand was short and scrawny for his age. At the time he also hadn't gained any weight yet. it was not an easy feat for them, but they managed to do it. the only thing they achieved through this action was that Damien permanently locked his door.

It was a normal solid wood door but for the 8-year-old twins it was a kin to a fortress wall. something they didn't have a ghost of a chance against.

Sad and powerless they gave up. the only thing they could think of was to wait until they had the means to help their brother. if they managed to catch up to him in their studies, they may be able to teach him and from then on, they would just learn side by side.

they started to set their plan in motion. Cramming like madman and trying to learn how to best teach the knowledge they had to someone else.

But only a short while before they could actually succeed someone unwittingly mad their masterplan crumble. this aforementioned someone what's their grandfather, Victor Hartell.

He made a surprise visit to their home and when he found out about Damien, he proposed to take him in. There was no objection from Damien's parents and his siblings were powerless to object anyway.

John and Maria didn't like their decision but thought that it would be for the best that an adult would handle this matter. their grandfather was bound to do a better job at the task they had originally set themselves.

Damien himself was not thrilled by the idea but everything that lay outside of this house was bound to be at least a little bit better. He vacated the room but everything else, execept some clothes of his, remained right where it was.

His parents unanimously agreed that he wasn't entitled to anything they had given him because there were no results to be shown that would justify these gifts. victor didn't protest either.

His goal was to save his grandchild from his son and the less things he had, to remind him of his time in this house, the better. He was confident that with time and support he would be able to help Damien come out of his shell.

Sadly, this was more wishful thinking then a concrete plan. victor hadn't interacted much with Damian up to this point, so he had no idea how far he had fallen. After his divorce with Damien's grandmother, and losing all the custody rights for their son, he had never remarried.

His experience with children, much less teenagers, was practically nonexistent.

He had no idea how to approach Damien. especially when he refused to leave his room. Viktore assumed that the boy just had to settle in and gave him some space.

After two months of patience there was still no change and Victor became nervous.

He had barely seen his grandchild and even when he caught a glimpse of him he wasn't able to start a conversation because Damien just slipped away before anything could be said.