Usually my stories have happy endings and all that but this one is pretty sad because that's the vibes on the occasion that I'm writing this on

~Danny's POV

I stared out the window of my house, wondering if I made the right decision.

The house was just as I remembered it to be and at first I was so glad to see it.
Now, I was growing sick of the quiet walls on all sides of me.

I missed the ocean.

Could you believe that?

I missed the fucking puddle that I always avoided back when I was in Hawaii.

My old buddy Ryan stopped by the next day.

"Hey I heard you got back in town," he clapped my shoulder.

"Yeah," I nodded.

"Why so cold?"

"Sorry Ryan I'm just... homesick?"

A confused frown creased his entire forehead.

"But you are home!" He exclaimed.

"I guess," I murmured.

"Don't tell me you miss that little island,"

"Okay I won't," I deadpanned.

"Ugh well either way, I have something that could cheer you up,"

Ryan pulled me into his car and drove somewhere that felt familiar but I couldn't make the connection.

He pulled into a bar just in the middle of town and looked at me expectantly.

"What?" I narrowed my eyes.

"Remember this place?" He grinned, "it's where you met Rachel!"

"Ryan-,"

"I'm sure you'll be able to meet someone else here to keep whatever's off your mind," he was already getting out of the car.

I didn't want to go do anything but he'd already gone through the trouble to drag me all the way out here so I went along inside.

Everyone was doing something in there and I felt so out of place, just awkwardly standing around.

I saw someone wearing cargo pants and I felt my stomach drop.

It wasn't him.

It would never be him.

I made it that way when I decided to go back here.

I couldn't call this place home anymore, not when the people I cared about weren't here.

Pressure was building behind my eyes, a tell-tale sign that tears were just over the horizon.

The music sounded like grotesque screams and the people dancing looked like a cult ritual. It was only four in the evening but the lights had been dimmed and everything in this bar was making my heart beat fast.

I needed to get out of here before I started crying.

I pushed past the tangling bodies and out the back door. The back alley smelled like grease and other obscenities but at the moment it was like I stumbled into the promise land.

I carefully tip-toed past the dumpster and leaned against the brick wall.

What was I going to do?

This wasn't my home anymore.

I was already miserable.

I reached for my phone in my pocket, already resigning to the instinct I had felt ever since my head hit my pillow last night. But then the door swung open again and Ryan stumbled past the dumpster.

"Danny, Danny, Danno!" He slurred, "what you doin out here? The party's inside,"

I opened my mouth to form an excuse and Ryan saw it, even in his intoxicated state. He grabbed my arm and soon we were back in the bar, sitting in a booth with a couple of other people.

"Ryan I want to go," I hissed.

"Just re-lax," Ryan waved his hand.

"You stole me from my house and made me interact with these people!" I whispered louder.

"These 'people' could become your friends," Ryan said.

"No!" I shouted.

Everyone in the vicinity stopped and stared. I wanted to melt on the spot. Nevertheless, I held my head up and pushed back outside and caught a cab.

By then, the sky was pretty dark and I felt like I was being swallowed whole by the darkness in the car.

With a shaky hand I pulled my phone from the pocket.

*ring!* *ri-*

"Your call has been forwarded to an automated voice messaging service- Steve McGarret- is not available. At the tone please leave your voice message and hang up or press 1 For more options,"

*beep!*

"Steve..." I croaked, "you were right,"

I listened to the fuzzy silence of the phone for a second before continuing, "I was already home,"