In Reverse - Phan

Untitled Part 1

"I don't think we're going to find it, Phil." Dan just about manages to disguise his sigh with a chuckle as he continues to rummage through the bottom of Phil's wardrobe. "I've been looking in here for fifteen minutes now."

"I know it's somewhere around here. We were playing it last Christmas and I can remember putting it back in my room."

Dan snorts and drops the game of Kerplunk he's holding as he looks over at Phil's legs sticking out from underneath his bed.

"You played this game with your family? I thought you said it was rude?"

"It is." Phil wriggles his way back out of the bed and offers him a shrug. "My family have a diverse taste when it comes to games."

"Diverse. Right," Dan says. He goes back to sifting through the endless collection of board games at the back of Phil's wardrobe, this time with a small glimmer in his eyes. "I would have paid big money to watch that. I can't imagine how bright red your face must have been."

"Shut up." Phil's voice is suddenly a lot closer and Dan blinks a few times to stabilise his quickly blurring vision. "You found anything yet?"

"Nope," Dan says with a chuckle, turning around to find Phil right behind him. "I think this is God's way of saying 'Phil, don't force Dan to play Cards Against Humanity when he's such an innocent child'."

Phil breathes his way through a chuckle. "Innocent, of course."

Dan ignores him and turns his attention back to the wardrobe's contents.

"This is getting boring now. Why don't we play Scrabble or something instead?" His hand brushes over a circular tin in time with his sentence. It's quite heavy when he picks it up. "What's this?"

Phil moves closer to peer over his shoulder. "Show me."

"Looks like some kind of sewing kit."

Dan pulls the tin out from the wardrobe and turns around so that he's cross-legged and facing Phil.

"It's not." Phil takes the tin from him and turns it over. "There's a note on the back, see? It says to 'open on a rainy day'." He casts a quick gaze to the window, which is pouring sunlight indulgently into the room. "But it's not raining."

"You sound heartbroken." Dan laughs as he takes the tin back. "Does it matter whether it's raining or not?"

"Guess not." Phil nibbles on his lip. "Open it."

Dan feels like a child on Christmas Day as he lifts the lid off the tin. He puffs a chuckle through his nose when the contents are revealed, covered in a thin layer of dust. A folded note is lying neatly on top of miscellaneous objects, including a puzzle piece, rubber hoops, a small wire-loop game, and a few other things that Dan can't quite make out under the dim lights of Phil's bedroom.

"Cute," Dan mumbles. "Whoever made this obviously knew how to have fun."

"I think my brother made it when he was little," Phil says fondly. Dan looks up at him carefully to try to detect any nostalgia in his features. He finds a lot. "God, this thing must be older than I am. I wonder if he still remembers."

"So you've never seen it before?" Dan drags his fingers around the tin's circumference. Phil shakes his head.

"Nope. Your guess is as good as mine as to what's actually inside."

"Let's find out then!" Dan exclaims as he pulls out the note and begins to unfold it. He clears his throat and puts on an even more exaggerated version of his own accent as he reads aloud from the letter. "Dear, reader. Are you tired of the wet weather? Are you sick of staying indoors, completely stuck with nothing to do? Well, have no fear! Enclosed in this box, you will find endless amounts of activities to keep you busy and save you from boredom. Can you complete them all before the rain stops?"