eternal darkness of the mind

Overdue

Phil's POV

"help me get my suitcase down the stairs ?" I shout to the other room.

"Yeah sure" I hear a weak reply.

"Dan are you alright" I say, trying to find where his voice was coming from.

I follow his words until I get to a door. I've never stepped into this room before but as I walked in I saw a bed. A large bed with messy covers, with Dan laying on top, his eyes bloodshot and red from crying.

"Dan?" I said and he looks up.

Realising I'm in the room he gets up and fixes the bed. Turned away, not looking at my face.

"Dan why haven't I seen this room before?"

It takes a while for him to reply but he eventually speaks up.

"It was my parents room"

Dan's parents were always good people. I remember them from when we were kids but I haven't seen them in quite a while now, not having seen his mom in maybe four years.

"Dan, are you alright?" I ask.

But Dan didn't reply. He moved slowly back to the bed and sat on the edge. Moving his hair away from his face, i saw that he was still crying, tears falling freely down his face.

"Dan ?" I now say in a more concerned voice

"Phil, you haven't seen my family in years, why would they leave everything in this room untouched if they had moved?"

The information started fitting together. Dan never talking about his parents, all the pictures of his little brother had disappeared, all the remnants and reminders of them all kept here in his parents bedroom. They had left.

"Dan, please, tell me what's wrong. What happened?" I said softly, sitting next to him, giving him a box of tissues.

~~

It took some time but eventually he told me. How his dad left home, how one day his mom just left one afternoon with his brother without notice. I would really be leaving him with nobody.

"Now, shouldn't I be helping you take your suitcase down the stairs?" Dan asks letting out a shaky laugh before wiping his face with his hands and gets up.

We leave the room, dan turning around to look in once again before closing the door and locking it from the outside. I pick up half of the suitcase, Dan lifting the other side and after a good ten minutes, it was finally down the stairs. Yes an exaggeration because it was bloody heavy.

Looking at the clock on Dan's wall, I see it's 4:30 pm, already late in the day. Our last morning was spent in well, I'll put it as "productive" ways, whereas most of our afternoon consisted of comforting in Dan's parents room. I didn't mind of course, I just don't like the fact I had to go. Stupid fucking countdown. And yes I can swear, it's in my head go away.

It's an understatement to say that I get a bit worried when travelling, let alone moving. In fact I completely freak out. What if I forget my toothbrush? Or if I get on the plane and I realise I forgot my phone ?! The difference is that I won't be return for who knows how long and I leave something behind, I'm probably not going to see it again.

Scanning the house for small things I may have missed, I come to the conclusion that everything was packed that needed to be packed. Everything was ready for me to leave. Every trace of myself that I had left in the house had been tidied up and swept away as if I was never there in the first place.