A/N: Hey everyone! This is my first Henry Danger story so I'm pretty nervous about posting it, especially since it's a dark story to tell, I hope I'm truly doing this story with the justice it deserved since I have never, ever cut myself or had thoughts about killing myself. This subject is very new to me so the writing will obviously be inexperience and possibly wrong. For those who have touched on this very subject or experienced it and know I have something wrong in the story, please don't hesitate to let me know via review or pm.

Warning: Please don't read this story should it trigger something. And for those who are currently experience anything that is mention in the summary/story, please get help. Talk to an adult, teacher, parent, or anyone you trust if you're being bully or having suicidal thoughts. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline number is: 1 (800) 273-8255. Get help and remember that you're not alone. There is at lease someone out in the world that cares about you.

Note: This story hasn't been edited by a beta. If you would like to edit this story for me, please send me a pm. Also, this will be a two-shot story.

Summary: Sometimes people are not what they appeared to be in public. Everyone has a secret they wished to hide from others. Some are insignificant and innocence and others are dark and serious. Henry's secret is the latter. His friends doesn't know about his past but they are about to. Will they stick with Henry once they find out or turn away like all the others? Mention of self-harm, depression, and attempted suicide. For suicide awareness month – September.

You're Not Alone!

Friday, September 4, 2015

Man Cave 4:45 pm

Henry Hart and Charlotte Tow were busily working in the Man Cave. Ray, who secret identity was Captain Man; the superhero for Swellview, had asked them to do inventory on all the items in the storage room behind the secret door. So that's what they were doing. However, the task was long and difficult since they had no clue what to call the various machines or what they were able to do. Henry figured that this must have been the first time inventory was being taken on the storage room because it seems like Ray had accumulated a lot of junk.

"Okay. Henry, I need you to put this…thing over there in the weapon pile," Charlotte ordered, pointing to the right, where a small pile of ordinary items, which happened to be weapons, laid on the steps a few feet beside them.

Henry reached over the red cart and picked up the metal cube that had colorful wires sticking out of the top and went to place the item in the correct pile. As he was walking over, he turned his head and asked over his shoulder, "How do you know that it's a weapon? It could be something else instead."

Charlotte chewed on her lips in concentration as she perused her list on the electric clipboard. "I know it's a weapon because, while you were in the storage room collecting more items, Ray came down and I asked him which items were the weapons and he told me."

"Oh," Henry said, understanding now. He gently set down the strange weapon, that he still didn't know what it did, yet he wasn't will to find out by messing with it, and walked back over to Charlotte to continue on with the job.

For the next ten minutes, the two teens focused silently on their jobs, the only words they said to each other was what the name was of the item (or the description of it since most of the time they didn't know the name of it) and where to put it once Charlotte had written the item down on her clipboard.

"Hey, Hen," Charlotte begin, using Henry's nickname to gain his attention. Not that she wouldn't have if she'd used his full name, but whatever. Henry was her friend and sometimes it was too bothersome to say "Henry," so she and Jasper, their other best friend, decided to shortened it with "Hen."

Henry looked up as he placed another strange and unknown item down on the cart that was between them. "Yeah."

Charlotte lowered the clipboard to her side and locked her brown eyes with Henry's. "You know that today we get to leave work early, right?" She asked, wanted to make sure he knew.

"Yeah, I know," Henry answered, leaned gently against a metal table next to the cart, acting like he had no care in the world to worry about. "What about it?"

"Well, I just wanted to make sure you knew. Also, I was wondering if you were going to go to the town meeting tonight at City Hall."

"Oh yeah," he replied, suddenly nervous. He so did not want to talk about this right now. He rather talked about Algebra than the town meeting. Anything but that.

You see, the reason why Henry was so anxious when Charlotte brought up the town meeting is because he has a dark secret he had been keeping from his friends (this category also included Ray, Schwoz, and Gooch) ever since he was 11-years-old and it had a connection to the meeting. Only his family knew about it. He knew that he shouldn't keep secrets, especially serious and dark secrets like the one he has been harboring inside him for years from his friends. After all, best friends don't keep secrets from each other.

He wanted to tell them. Honestly, he did. But whenever he was about to reveal his secret, he would stopped suddenly and say something else instead. It seems like he could never find the courage to tell them. A part of him wanted to tell them, to get it off his chest, to finally achieved true happiness which the secret didn't allow until he uttered the horrible truth. Yet on the other hand, he was scared…no he was terrified. He didn't want to lose his friends because he kept the secret from them so long or because of the subject matter. He didn't think he could stand to lose more people walking away from him like his other friends did back in Riverside.

No, Henry thought, feeling hurt. Ex-friends. They weren't your friends. True friends don't betrayed you like that. They don't hurt you like that.

Anyway, back to the story. It had just turned to September, which happened to be the national suicide awareness and prevention month. And the meeting later on this evening wasn't going to be a regular one like the others he had seen in the past. No, the main agenda for the meeting held at Swellview City Hall was several lectures on the subject. There was going to be personal stories told, signs that love ones and friends should watch out for, what parents can do to help their children or friends if they are having suicidal thoughts, who to talked to should they need to expressed their feelings, and so many more stuff like that.

One of the speakers that was going to tell their person story to the town was going to be him. Yes, that right. Henry Hart, who secret identity was Kid Danger, was going to spill his deep, dark secret to the public for an educational purposes and he was terrified at the prospect of it. He wasn't scared about being in the spotlight, he had been in it a lot since he had become Captain Man's sidekick. No, what scared him the most was telling his story, his secret to other people that weren't his family.

However, if it happened to prevent another kid from going through what he had unfortunately experience at a young age of 8, then he was willing to speak about it in front of the whole town of Swellview.

"….the meeting is at 7. I heard someone say that the meeting was going to be very interesting tonight and that the whole town was going to be there. Are you going? If you are, maybe we can go - ?" Charlotte cut herself off, seeing that she had lost Henry somewhere in the conversation.

"Hey, Henry," she called, taking two steps forward and waving her hand in front of him, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Huh, what? What about the meeting tonight?" he inquired, blinking his eyes and looking back at Charlotte.

"Henry, are you okay? You zoned out on me again." Charlotte asked, worried about her best friend and his recent strange behavior. He had been staring off in space multiple times since she known him at the age of eleven, more often when the months happened to be April and September. This time, it wasn't any different, but it seemed to her like he had been mentally leaving her and Jasper more than usual this past week. It could just be her, though.

"Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'm okay." He lied, trying to sound convincing this time since he knew he couldn't lie to save his skin. "I'm just thinking about what I should make for dinner tonight. It's my turn."

Charlotte raised her left eyebrow in suspicion, knowing that he was lying to her. And from the evil eye she was currently giving him, he knew she knew he was lying, making him cringe in nervousness. He truly didn't want to lie to his friend. Every time he did, it made him sick to his stomach, but what choice did he had. He didn't want to lose his friends.

"Really?" She asked skeptical, willing to play along for the moment and buy the story he was spewing to her. "Don't you usually make Chili Balls for your family when it's your turn to make dinner?"

Henry nodded his head, causing his blond hair to fall in his eyes. "Yeah, I usually do. But this time I want to make something different. I was thinking Spaghetti since I know that's Piper's favorite dish."

"Okaaay," she stated, still not accepting the story he was giving her, but willing to let it go for now. "If you're sure you're okay then…"

"I am," he interrupted her in mid-sentence, a weak smile on his pale face. Charlotte gave him a look. "I promise, Charlotte. Nothing is wrong. Everything is okay." Please, oh, please just let the subject drop! I don't want you to know! I don't want you to hurt me like the others did at my other school. I don't want to find out what they said was true about me. That I'm unloved and friendless. That any friends I make in the future will leave me once they know my secret.

Charlotte continued to give him a long look, which he did his best not to fidget under her intent stare, before allowing the subject to drop for good. She then brought up the previous subject that was the cause of the one they had just finished. "The meeting is tonight. It's at 7 and I was wondering if you were thinking about going? If you are, maybe we can go together?"

"Umm…sure. I'm going. My whole family is going, in fact. But," here where he started lying again. "But I'm going to be a little bit late. Piper dropped her phone in the toilet again and the family is stopping at the phone store and picking up another one for her before we head to the meeting. You know how she is, always breaking her phone when she's mad about something."

Well, he mused, not feeling very well at the moment. It wasn't a full lie. More like a half-truth, in fact.

After all, Piper really did drop her phone in the toilet this morning, but the family wasn't going to stop at the phone store until sometime tomorrow for the replacement. Henry just needing a believable excuse to give as to why he couldn't go with Charlotte. He wanted to go with her, but he had to be at City Hall twenty minutes early since he was part of the lecture and needed to let the people, who were hosting the meeting, that he was present. Plus, he wasn't too sure he could keep up his acting in front of Charlotte. If she gave him another dark look before this day was officially over, he might just break down and spill his guts to her without thinking about the consequences.

"Yeah, I know," Charlotte replied, giving Henry a smile. "I'm not sure if I should be surprise or not. It's not unusual for your sister to break her stuff when she's in an angry fit, but I'm surprise it happened so soon. Didn't your parents just buy a replacement phone for her a month ago because she broke the one before that against your living room wall?"

"Yup, but you know my parents," Henry said as a way to explain his parents' behavior to his best friend. "Piper is their last baby and their only daughter, so they are making sure she's truly happy by spoiling her. That doesn't mean my parents like buying her a phone multiple times a month. They are trying to get her to calm down and quit breaking her technology stuff, but it's been a long and hard process. I guess the saying is true, 'some habits are hard to break.' No pun intended, of course."

"Of course," she agreed before bring up her clipboard to continue on with the job that they had abandon five minutes ago for the much more interesting conversation. As she turned her eyes to the clipboard to go down the list, she said to Henry, "Too bad we can't go together, but I understand. You go with your family and I guess I will see you there."

"See you where, Charlotte?" a familiar voice suddenly broke into the conversation. Charlotte's head snapped up in surprise at hearing the new voice. She took a quick look at Henry and saw that he was feeling the same way as her, noticing that he had follow her lead and resume his task.

Looks like Henry needs to work on observing his surroundings a bit more, Charlotte thought to herself. If they were in a true dangerous situation, Henry's failure at making sure no one was sneaking up on him would have gotten them hurt or worst, killed.

Charlotte looked straight ahead and saw her boss, Ray, and her co-worker, Schwoz coming down the stairs from the sprocket. They had sodas in their hands and curious expressions on their faces as they reached the ground floor and walked over to Henry and her. They were obvious waiting for her to explain.

She lowered the clipboard slightly in order to talk to them properly, "I was just speaking to Henry about the meeting tonight at City Hall and was wondering if he was going. When he agreed that he was, I asked if he would like to go together, but he said he couldn't. Which is why I said I will see him at the meeting then." She paused before adding, "Are you two going to the meeting?"

"Of course, we are," Schwoz answered after taking a sip of his drink. "Even Gooch is attending and you know how he hates the town meetings."

At the same time, Ray replied with, "Wouldn't miss if for the world. I heard it's supposed to be interesting tonight."

"Yeah, I heard the same thing," Charlotte agreed.

The two men and Charlotte never notice how much paler Henry had become in the last two minutes as they were too busy focusing on guessing what the topic or topics of the meeting was going to be about that would cause the-boring-and-the-sleepable usual meetings to not occur this month.

Henry felt so stupid at that moment. He knew that he would have to speak in front of the whole town of Swellview. He just didn't realized until now that he would also be speaking in front of his work friends too. To be honest, they usually didn't come to the town meetings. Sure, Ray did to keep up-to-date about the happenings of the town he was protecting from criminals. But Charlotte, him, Schowz, and the rest of the students of Swellview and some parents didn't. The usual meetings were boring and a waste of people's time for those who didn't care about the town.

Henry wasn't one of them, however. Yes, he didn't come to the regular meetings, but that didn't mean he didn't care about his hometown. If he didn't care so much, why else would he put his life on the line almost every night to protect the citizens of Swellview?

Henry was brought back to reality when he heard Ray say, "Well, it's five o'clock. You kids can stop with the inventory and go on home. And I guess we will see you later on tonight."

Henry didn't say anything. He gave Ray a grateful look on his still pale face before silently putting the item he had been holding for the last several minutes back down on the cart. Then he calmly walked around Charlotte and headed for the elevator. He pressed the blue button to open the door. When it slid open, he entered. He turned around and noticed his friends were watching him with various expressions of concern written all over their faces.

He ignored them, feeling bad in the process, knowing that he was the causing of those looks, but didn't know how to tell them. Tell them about the bullying that he went through for about three years, about the rumors and lies that were spread about him all over the school and even throughout the town. Tell them about the heart-wrenching pain he suffered with every day during school and after once he was safe at home. About the crying he did every night that would exhaust him so much that it would put him to sleep and then the frightening nightmares that would wake him up a few hours later. About…about…

No, he didn't even want to go there! To relieve those very dark moments in his life where he almost gave up for good. But he knew that he would relieve the memories sometime tonight when it was his turn to be on that stage

As much as he didn't want to walk up on that stage and revealed his past, reliving them as the horrible story unfolded, he knew he had to do it. It was selfish of him not to. Who knows, maybe a kid, whether they were young or old, could relate somehow to his story and decide that killing his or her life wasn't worth it to solve a temporary problem. So even if it killed him (no pun intended), he was going to stand up in front of the town, praying along the way that they won't reject him once they hear about his past.

Usually, about this time when Henry was leaving, he would say goodbye to Ray and whoever else was around. But not this time. This time, he kept his mouth shut and pressed the button to close and take him up to the Junk-N-Stuff store above the Man Cave.

When the elevator door close, Ray and Schowz turned to look at Charlotte, both wondering what was going on with Henry. He was usually a very happy boy and greeting them with 'hellos' and 'byes' whenever he saw them at the beginning and ending of work. For Henry not to say goodbye to them was like him suddenly liking pickles, which they both know that he and Charlotte hated the most.

"Charlotte, what's going on with Henry? He usually said bye when he leaving work," Ray questioned her, concern for his best friend and employee.

"Yeah," Schowz agreed, wondering about the same thing. "And he was really pale. Do you think he's getting sick? Maybe he working too hard here?"

Charlotte shook her head in a negative response. "I don't know. He won't tell me what is wrong. And if he does say anything, it's usually a lie of some sort," she explained with a frustrated expression on her brown face. She then added, "I did asked if he was coming down with something when I noticed how pale he was, but he said he wasn't. I know he was telling me the truth then because he didn't fidget in front of me or make up a lame story. Yet a while ago, he zoned out on me. He had been doing that with Jasper and me quite a lot recently. I'm worry around him."

"Same here. Did you both notice the quick flashes of pain and fear in his eyes when we were discussing the meeting tonight?" Ray pointed out to them.

They both shook their heads 'no'. Then silence descended upon the trio as they all stood in the middle of the Man Cave, not saying or doing anything.

"Well," Charlotte begin, breaking the silence a minute later, "if Henry doesn't tell me soon what's going on, I may have to slap a boy until he's willing to tell me." She paused, placing the clipboard on the cart. "Until then, I'm going home and getting ready for the meeting. See you guys later."

"Bye, Charlotte," Ray and Schowz said as she walked over to the elevator and soon disappeared behind the steel gray door.

Swellview City Hall

6:55 pm

Henry stood backstage, peeking nervously around the wall to see the large room full of people for the first time since he could remember. And more people were still coming in by the droves! The place was so packed full of people that there wasn't even a place for them to sit, they all had to stand in the back.

Henry studied them all for a minute, observing them as they talk to one another about insignificant things, smiles on their faces and laughing without a single care in the world. He looked to the right and immediately saw his family sitting in the front row, in the middle of the room. On the right of them, set Charlotte and her family and to the left, sat Jasper and his family. As his eyes continued to wander around, he never saw Ray, Schwoz, or Gooch. Of course, that didn't mean they weren't there yet. They were probably lost in the crowd as most of the students of Swellview were. Henry clenched his fists tightly, trying to will away the painful memories of his past life while his friends sat, chatting freely; having no idea what was going to happen tonight.

Swellview Press room was probably the biggest area in Town Hall. Beautiful cherry wood covering both the floor and walls with a white ceiling above them. At the front of the room, sat a large stage with a cherry wood wall behind it. However, there was still plenty of space to go behind the wall as the room didn't end at the stage. On the front of the stage, in the middle, was a wooden podium with a black microphone attached at the top. Behind the podium was several metal chairs that were place in a neat row. A large, blank screen, which a person could project images on with the camera that was attached to the ceiling, was pulled down. Various plants and professional paintings adorned the walls around the room.

Everyone has a story to tell, a past experience of some kind, but no one is aware of it until the words are revealed out loud. Those dark moments were only found deep inside a person and are often hidden by a smile on the outside. People wear masks and locked themselves behind mental and emotional walls as a way to hide their true emotions and protect them from the pain and horrors of the world. He knew this because he used to be one of them who did the same thing.

He wondered, as he looked around the room, how many people were out there who had experience bullying like him? How many people were the ones who was the bully? And how many were just a stand-by, watching but doing nothing to aid the victim? He shook his head. He didn't know since he couldn't see inside their hearts. But if he could, he would understand. Maybe not fully since no one could until they stood in that person's shoes, but he could understand the negative feelings and excruciating pain a person can feel when he or she thinks that they are truly alone in the world. The thing was, would the people who stood in your shoes, who experience the same feelings and pains you did, who stop to hear your story, your dark secret, treat you any differently? He hopes so. He truly do.

"Can I have everyone attention, please?" Henry took a step back in surprise at the sudden voice, the audience no longer in his view of sight. The deep voice below to no other than the Mayor of Swellview, Mr. John Turner. The deafening noise of chattered died down, everyone giving their complete undivided attention to the Mayor, ready to listen to what he had to say.

I guess it's time to get this show on the road, Henry thought, taking a deep breath to calm his nerves. He glanced around backstage, noticing the three adults (one male, two females), who would also be on stage today. He didn't know what these people were planning on presenting to the town of Swellview. He did know, however, that he was going to be the only kid who was going to tell his story.

Mayor Turner cleared his throat softly before beginning to address the audience, "Thank you. I would first like to thank everyone for coming tonight. As you probably already know, we are skipping the usual meeting for something else, something far more concerning than our town of Swellview. But I know most of you probably don't know what that is. Very few in this room do know, however.

"We're in the month of September. And while the month might not seem as important to you, it is important to the people backstage as well as me. September is National Suicide Awareness and Prevention month," here he had to paused to allow the gasps of surprise and the soft mumblings of words to quiet down before speaking again. "And because the topic is so serious and the second leading death in the United States for kids between the ages of 13 and 24, we are going to have speakers come up here to tell their personal stories. Some of them will give you signs to watch out for if your child or friend are having suicidal thoughts. Plus, the tools you will need to overcome the problem. At the end, Miss Swellview and I will be handing out brochures on where you can go or talk to get help."

The citizens of Swellview sat in silence, processing what Mayor Turner had just uttered. "Now, I would like to bring up the first speaker of the night. Please give a warm welcome to Mr. Richard Lake."

The Mayor step away from the podium and clapped his hands to welcome the first speaker. Just as the Mayor turned his body to face the left where the guy named Richard Lake would come from, a middle-aged man with black hair, blue eyes, and a pot belly walked past Henry and turned, no longer in his sight. Henry could hear the man's heavy footsteps ascending the four steps to the stage and adjusting the mike on the podium from the shrill sounds it was making.

"Thank you, Mayor Turner for that great introduction and allowing me to be here tonight to talk to these wonderful citizens of Swellview," Mr. Lake began. The sounds of note cards shuffling on a hard surface and a soft clicking of a Powerpoint presentation could be heard where Henry stood behind the stage. "Tonight, I'm here to talk to you about…."

Henry stop listening to the man then, deciding to just focus on staying calm and thinking about what he was going to say in front of the town.

A/N: Well, you all know what to do. Please send me a review and tell me what you think of the story. Constructive feedback is welcome but please, no flames. Part two will be up as soon as I can finished editing it. I should warn you, however, that it will be a long chapter, which should make you all very happy, I'm sure.