moods / phan

chapter seventeen

// I have a new book up called miscellaneous which will contain mostly short stories, rants and phan oneshots so go check it out if you enjoy any of the three :) //

dan

Over the next week, Dan notices Phil's decent into a seemingly dark place.

Everyday Dan tries to talk to him, to attempt to let Phil know that he isn't alone - no matter what is happening, but the once sunshine of a boy won't listen to him. It's hurting Dan, seeing Phil like this - he has no idea what to do. Louise, Pj and Cat aren't doing anything, they haven't even noticed.

Dan wonders how people can be so damn ignorant. Phil is clearly a completely different person yet they aren't seeing that fact somehow. When he spots Cat, he runs over to her and she shuts her locker before turning to face him, smiling widely.

"Hey Dan, how are you?" Cat asks brightly, a smiling face hovering above her head.

"Cat... A-are you worried a-about Phil? I m-mean, h-he's not being himself," Dan says quietly, looking at her and desperately willing for her to notice and help, "I'm w-worried about h-him."

"Look Dan, don't be too worried about him, everyone gets down sometimes, despite what you may think, Phil isn't always so cheery - just mostly," Cat says, "look, give it a week and if he still isn't his sunny self, we'll talk to Louise and Pj okay?"

"Y-yeah," Dan says softly, "I n-need to g-go to my own l-locker so I'll s-see you later."

Dan waves goodbye to Cat before quickly walking away towards his own locker. He sighs, closing his eyes as he thinks about what Cat says. It's true, no one can be happy all the time, even Phil, however he knows that there's something different about the kind of down Phil is; after all, he himself felt like this, and more often than not, still does.

Dan reaches forward, the metal lock cold on his fingers as he fumbles to enter the code. After massively increasing the weight of his bag with books, Dan closes his locker and turns to see Phil walking towards him.

Dan has brief déjà vu back to the first time he met Phil. He was at his locker and Phil was running happily towards Pj - a vast contrast to how he looks today. Dan feels a tinge of pain  as he compares the two times he's seen Phil come towards him in the hallway.

Phil looks so different, his shoulders hanging forward, his pale skin causing the bags underneath his eyes to stand out like black on white, his usually neat fringe a tangled mess and the mood above his head a mere cloud. Dan walks towards Phil, halting in front of him, however the boy is so lost inside his thoughts that he doesn't notice Dan and walks straight into him.

"Sorry," Phil mutters, his tired eyes staying on the floor and he goes to keep walking until Dan reaches out and gently grabs his arm.

As soon as Dan's fingers make the slightest contact with Phil's skin, he jumps away like Dan's touch was fire and fear flashes briefly inside his blue eyes. He relaxes when he sees Dan looking confusedly at him.

"Oh Dan, didn't see you there," Phil says, giving Dan an obviously forced smile.

"P-Phil are y-you okay?" Dan asks.

"Yeah Dan, I'm fine," Phil says, "everything is fine."

"B-but I'm worried a-about you," Dan says, frowning at him, "you, y-you're, you've changed."

"Well, people do that sometimes Dan, that's just life yeah," Phil assures him, looking at Dan expectantly, "I'm fine."

"No Phil, y-you're n-not!" Dan says, "p-please stop l-lying to me."