As Sebastian pulled up to the house Danny could feel his chest tighten, and Philip had kept his head down as they had pulled up into the driveway. Danny was relieved to see that their parent's car wasn't anywhere to be seen in the driveway. Sebastian turned the car off and got out of the car first, jerking Danny and Philip out of their fear dazed state. Danny got out of the passenger seat and helped Philip to get out of the backseat of the car, before they both joined Sebastian at the front of the car. Danny walked up to the front door first with Sebastian sticking close to him like his shadow, and Philip clinging on to the back of Sebastian's leg. Danny got the key for the house from the planter that was next to the door and unlocked the front door to the house.
The door creaked open to the house that was oddly completely silent. There wasn't a single sound besides the breaths and steps of the boys as they entered the house. Danny relaxed more when he realized that his parents weren't in the house entirely. He sauntered more calmly into the house not bothering to take his shoes off, as he figured that he wasn't going to be in there all that long.
"Go and grab anything that you want to take with you," Danny said as he glanced back over his shoulder towards Philip.
"Is it safe?" Philip asked as he glanced to Danny from around Sebastian's leg.
"Yeah they aren't home right now, but be quick, I don't want to be here whenever they get back," Danny replied as he glanced around the house nervously. Philip nodded and took off running towards his bedroom to grab whatever things that he wanted to bring to Sebastian's house. Danny walked quickly to the same set of stairs that Philip had just run up with Sebastian sticking almost uncomfortably close to him. Danny's face flushed a bit at the edges as he felt the protectiveness of Sebastian hovering around his back. Danny went up the stairs and to his room, taking the key out of his pants to unlock the door.
Danny's room was very sparse of any kind of personal memorabilia or personal touches of any kind. There was a small twin mattress on the floor just underneath the window, a desk lamp that was next to the mattress with a small stack of books underneath it, and a small rundown desk with chipped paint that was against the wall next to the closet door. Danny walked into the room and grabbed a couple of the books from the stack and moved them over to the desk. He walked over to the closet door and reached around in there for a backpack and a couple clothing items.
Danny walked back over to the desk and threw the books in the bag too before he realized that Sebastian hadn't followed him into the room. He looked up towards the doorway and saw that Sebastian was simply looking around the room and occasionally glancing back at Danny to watch him. Sebastian was giving Danny his space to sort out what he needed to sort out mentally and emotionally. There was one more thing that Danny needed to get before he left, the last thing that he had of his elder brother. Danny jimmied open the top drawer of his desk and pulled out an old framed photo of him and his elder brother sitting on the back deck together, Danny's elder brother was holding Philip in his arms when Philip was around nine months old.
Danny put the photo into his backpack and zipped the bag shut before slinging it onto his back. Sebastian waited patiently by the doorway in the hall as Danny took one last sweeping glance around the room, before taking a deep breath in and leaving the room not bothering to lock it. Danny looked up at Sebastian with a small half-smile before they continued down the hall to Philip's room. Along the way Sebastian noticed that there was another room along the hall that still had little tears of yellow police tape around the edges of the doorframe. Sebastian also noticed that Danny forced himself to not even chance a glance at the door. Sebastian made a mental note of that, to make sure to ask Danny about it later.
Philip was just coming out of his room when Danny and Sebastian approached the door. Philip had his own small backpack on his back when he came out of the room. He was looking tearful and sad, but smiled when he saw Danny and Sebastian coming down the hall towards him. Philip walked up to meet them and Danny pulled him close, hugging Philip tightly against his body.
"This is it, we are finally free," Danny whispered to Philip as he kissed him on top of his head, both a little tearful both out of fear, sadness, and relief. Philip nodded against Danny as he let a couple tears slip down his cheeks, and sniffled. As much as Sebastian wanted to comfort Danny and Philip he knew that this was not the right time. Sebastian followed behind Danny and Philip back down the hallway, down the stairs, and back towards the front door of the house. Danny was having mixed feelings at the thought of leaving the place where he was raised, where he had so many memories both good and bad. But now the bad memories were starting to outweigh the good memories, making the house more than stifling along with the daily abuse.
Sebastian and Philip left the house first to get into the car. Danny stopped in the doorway for a moment and looked back into the house one last time. Taking a deep breath in as he closed his eyes, reveling in the last bits of the good memories that Danny had left of that house. He supposed that if he had left earlier by whatever other means that he had, he would've never met Sebastian, so he guessed that that was the last good memory that this house had brought him. Danny smiled as he closed the door and locked the door behind himself, before walking over to Sebastian's car and getting into the passenger seat.