Adopted by Phan

Chapter 27

Once we arrived home Dan once again assumed his browsing position and I went off to my room. I unpacked my stuff then joined him on the couch. I noticed there were still presents under the tree.
"Shall we open Phil's presents?" I asked.
"I guess that's probably a good idea" Dan replied. I gave him his three from Phil and there were two for me. There was a notepad with a cartoon drawing of me, Dan and Phil on the cover. Inside the paper was lined. I held it up to show Dan and a letter fell out.
"I've got one too" Dan said noticing it. He held up an identical envelope.
"Should we open them together?" I asked. On the front of mine it said 'Panda' that was Phil's nickname for me. I saw that Dan's said Danosaur.
"Maybe we should read these on our own" Dan said. I nodded, I walked off to my room leaving him in there. I sat on my bed and opened the letter.
Panda, I don't know what to say. It hasn't been long but I've seen you blossom into a beautiful young lady. I guess since your ready this I'm already gone. Thing is, I'd been told I was going to die before Christmas. They said my heart wasn't strong enough to get me past then. I know Dan will want to hold a big funeral for me. And when he does I'd like you to speak in it. Say what comes from heart. I have some goals for you. Become a Kung Fu world champion. Win every competition you go into. Make people shiver when they speak your name. Never give in to anybody and lastly please look after Dan. He acts tough but he's soft inside. I didn't wan to tell any one because I didn't want you to have to live with it on your mind. I love you Sophie.
Daddy Phil
Xx

I could barely read the last bit because of the tears in my eyes. I worked on my eulogy in my new notebook straight away. I heard Dan crying in the living room and  I went back into him.
"He knew, he knew he was going to die but he didn't tell us" he sobbed into the cushion.
"I know, but he did what was best" I said "we enjoyed our last moment with him not because we had to but because we wanted to"
"I guess your right" he said wiping his tears away "did he ask you to speak tomorrow?"
"Yes" I said.
"Me too" he replied. We spent hours working on our eulogies. I hid mine away from him. I didn't want anyone to hear it until tomorrow. I went  and out my notepad back in my room and folded the note up on top of my desk. I grabbed my phone and went back to him.

"Dan, we should start telling people" I said "the funerals tomorrow, they might want to come"
"True" he said getting up to grab his phone. He saw Phil's lying on the counter still on charge and he unplugged it.
"Shall we ring?" I asked.
"That's probably better" he replied. It was getting late now and I was worried that people wouldn't pick up their phones.

An hour later we'd rung, Louise, Zoe and Alfie, Jim and Tanya, Niomi and Marcus, Tyler, Cat, Connor, PJ and Chris. All responses were either tears or kind words about him then probably tears when we got off the phone. We then started going through Phil's phone. We rang everybody. Even his parents.
"Hello?" His mum picked up the phone.
"Hi Mrs Lester it's Dan" Dan said shakily. He'd already cried three times during this process.
"Oh hello dear" her words were kind but her tone was disgusted.
"Just to let you know that Phil's life support machine was turned off this morning at 11am. If you remember I did ask if you want to come and say goodbye but you were..." He paused "busy"
"Ah yes, such a terrible shame. I hope you and your young girl are okay" she said.
"The funerals tomorrow at 12" Dan said.
"I'm sure we'll pop over" she said and we hung up.
"They disgust me every time" he said sitting back.
"Me too" I said "why don't we order pizza"
"Your full of good ideas aren't you!" Dan said. We ordered two pizzas and we sat on the floor with our food talking about how life was before we met Phil.

Lying in bed that night was horrible. When your alone all of your thoughts catch up with you and take over everything. I lost my dad today. It kept relaying in my head. I closed my eyes but all I saw was Phil lying there with his cold hand in my warm one and hearing the machine beeping. I opened my eyes but they were already full of tears. I cried silently with my head in my pillow. The pain grew in my stomach and I let out a loud sob. I knew Dan was in his room. I sobbed for what felt like hours. I buried my head further into my pillow and that's when I felt a big warm hand on my back and I knew it was Dan. I sat up and buried my face into his pyjama top. I could feel his warm skin underneath it and i felt safe. I felt teardrops landing on my pyjama top and I knew Dan was crying.
"We'll be okay together" Dan said "we can get though this"
"We will" I said. I laid down again and closed my stinging eyes. Dan pulled the duvet up to my chin and it was warm from where I'd been sitting on it. I closed my eyes and I prayed for no more haunting images to fly through my head. There was nothing. Thank god.

Xxx
Will be wrapping this up soon! Just to let you know!