Evacuee (Phan Fiction)

Meeting Mr Lester

A tap on my shoulder pulls me out of my train of thought and I turn to face a strict looking woman with a thin face and short cut, grey hair. She has a stern look on her face as she grips my shoulder a little too tightly and leads me out to where the other teachers are waiting. All of the other children have left already. "Name?" She demands as we reach the other teachers.

"D-Daniel Howell." I stutter nervously.

"Right, you'll be staying with Mr Lester. He'll explain everything you need to know at some point over this weekend. Stick to the rules, do what you're told and try to fit in around here." She says and her voice is so stern that I kind of want to crawl under a rock and hide. She'd probably smell my fear and find me though. She seems like the type.

I nod shortly. "Yes, ma'am." I follow her over to a man and as we approach, the first thing I notice is that he is absolutely stunning. Bright blue eyes and hair as dark as the night sky. His skin is pale like snow and contrasts perfectly with his hair. He's young and slim and quite frankly, breathtaking. And then, I realise that I don't know how tall he is and that is because he is in a wheelchair.

"Mr Lester, this is Daniel." The stern woman states to the man and I duck my head, trying to hide my face with my fringe as he looks up at me.

"It's nice to meet you, Daniel." He says, smiling a little.

I give him a shy smile back. "Hello." I all but whisper.

"Well, I trust you two to discuss the new arrangements at your leisure, have a good evening, Mr Lester." The woman gives a tight smile before walking away.

"So, Daniel, how was the journey here?" Mr Lester asks and begins to wheel himself down the road. I follow, keeping pace fairly easily.

"It was good, sir." I reply quietly.

"Please, none of that 'sir' business. My name's Philip but you can call me Phil." He says and glances up at me. I nod.

"You can call me Dan." I say and he nods with a smile.

"What's that book you've got there?" He asks, his eyes travelling down to the book held tightly in my hands.

"Alice in Wonderland." I say and smile down at the book, thinking of Miss Hayes and wishing she was here instead of that strict woman from earlier. "It's really good." I add.

"I'll have to read it one day." He says.

"I could read it to you." I blurt out without thinking about it. He looks at me and raises an eyebrow questioningly. "I'm sorry, I'm just not very good at reading and my mum and teacher used to get me to read to them to help." I explain quickly, feeling embarrassed. I feel my face heat up and I just know that I'm blushing. Just, talking about things like this, when I'm sixteen and should be able to do more, it makes me feel stupid.

"It's okay, you can read to me if you like." He says softly.

"Thank you." I say as a silence settles over us.

"Well, here we are." Phil suddenly announces and I look up to see that we are stood in front of a small, one story cottage. It's got a nice, small front lawn and a small porch. From here, I can see that there is no back garden but even the small patch of grass in front of the house is more than I've ever had. I look in awe at the pretty cottage. It has flowers in low hanging baskets and pots around the front garden. There are also flowers growing in baskets under the window sills. It is very well tended and looked so well taken care of.

"Your house is beautiful." I comment and look down to see Phil smiling at me.

"And you haven't even been inside yet." He grins. "Come on." He wheels up to the front door which has a ramp to get up onto the porch. He unlocks the front door and I close it behind him, following him through a small hallway into a lovely living room. It is nice and homely and I can't help but smile as I take in the personal touches of the room that make it more than just a building. I watch as Phil rolls his wheelchair into an empty space in the corner of the room by the door. He then gets up and walks over to the sofa. Firstly, I notice how tall he really is. Then I realise that he just walked. He looks up at my confused face and chuckles. "I can walk, but only for about five minutes at a time before I need to rest."

"Oh." I say, standing awkwardly in the doorway. Phil pats the sofa next to him and I walk hesitantly over to sit next to him. "Why is that?" I ask curiously. "Actually, I'm sorry, that was rude." I apologise when I realise what I have said.

He chuckles lightly. "No, it's okay." He assures me. "I have a condition which means my body can't work physically for too long. If I'm standing or walking for too long, say ten minutes, I pass out. I'm not sure why but it means I can't go to war, obviously, and have to use a wheelchair to get around."

"Right." I say, unsure what to say next.

"Why don't you go put your things away and then we can have a talk later." Phil offers and pats my knee. He then stands up and I stand with him, noting that I am about a head shorter than him. We walk down the hallway and into a small bedroom. There is a bed in the corner with a desk under the window that looks out over the front garden and into the village before us. There is a small wardrobe against one wall and apart from that, the room is bare. It's small and bare but the walls are painted a nice, calming blue and the bed looks comfortable despite it's size. I take a hesitant step into the room and carry my bag over to the bed.

"It's nice." I say as I turn to face Phil.

"Thank you. You can out your clothes in the wardrobe and anything else in the desk. I'll call you through in a little while." He says, swaying lightly with the effort of standing up and I nod before watching him leave.

And I come to one conclusion: Phil is nice and I like him.