4am

five

*PHIL'S POV*

I came around some time later, but I couldn't see anything around me. My wrists felt constrained, I tried to move them but a sharp pain flooded my body. I let out a yelp of pain and suddenly started to panic. Memories of the three men came back to me. Had they gone to find Dan, and more importantly, was Dan okay?

I kicked out my legs but they both hit a hard surface with a loud clunk, sending a jolt of pressure up my body. I let out a frustrated sigh and strained to move every limb in my body, but I couldn't. I was surrounded by a thick darkness and a messy haze, yet the feeling of a rough rope around my wrists was throbbing through my head. Was I tied up? What the hell was going on?

I heard a distressed shout from the distance and strained my heavy head to try and make it out. When I realised the voice was laced with familiarity, my heart both leaped and dropped at the same time. Dan.

I could hear deep laughter, filled with malice, and it was getting closer. Dan was still with them. My heart started hammering through my chest as the people got closer to where I lay. It all happened so fast, light flooded my vision, my eyes adjusted fast enough to make out I was in the boot of a car, before I was roughly hauled out, and thrown onto the ground like a pathetic rag doll. One of the men spat on the ground next to my head, a drop landing on my skin. The sun was starting to come up over the horizon, setting a red tinge onto everything I could make out.

I felt weak, but I lifted my head up enough to make out my surroundings. I was in a parking lot, somewhere in the shady part of town. There were no other cars here. It must still be pretty early in the morning. I crooked my head upwards a bit more and I saw him. Dan looked me in the eye, his normally hazel shade was bloodshot and glazed over. He looked terrified, like he was about to cry.

I couldn't breathe, I just wanted to reach out and hold Dan, he looked so scared, and I was so scared too. I felt the rope around my wrist become looser. They were being untied. I let my head fall down onto the ground, it was wet and cold but I didn't care, I was drowsy and I wanted to reach out for Dan, but I couldn't.

I closed my eyes again, trying to steady my breathing, but it wasn't much use. My thick black hair was drenched with sweat, and it fell in clumps over my eyes. Then they spoke, and the words rung around my head.

"OK Dan, if you want to be able to walk tomorrow, then here's your chance. Finish off the skinny fuck."

Dan let out a whimper, and one of the men snorted.

"Or we could fuck you both up right now" One of them added.

My mind was beyond overdrive, it was screaming, everything was too hot and I couldn't feel my body, I wanted to cry, I wanted Dan. Was Dan going to hurt me? But if he didn't hurt me, then they'd hurt him. I felt my eyes fill up, I blinked hard to try and stop the crying but it was no use, hot tears started rolling silently down my cheeks. I wanted to be dead. It would be better for Dan, for everyone.

Silence fell around us, as Dan took one timid step towards me. He roughly pulled me up, quickly moving to my side, supporting my feeble body by the waist, stopping my knees from giving in. I held my breath and looked at the ground, bracing myself for a blow from Dan. Yet his touch seemed so gentle and caring, I found it impossible to fathom that the boy standing next to me could ever do anything to hurt me. But he needed to, or else he'd get hurt. Badly. I gulped and prepared for the worst, the tension rising in the air.

"Fucking hit him already, or I'll fucking step in." The largest of the three men hissed, his voice piercing the anticipation in the air. Dan turned to face me, and I did the same, I looked into his pain-filled eyes again and nodded slowly, as if to tell him it was okay. His face was so bashed up already, I didn't know how much more of a beating he could take from those three. Dan whimpered once more and shook his head, his eyes glazing over with tears again.

The air around us was silent, it was probably only a few seconds but it felt like hours. I was trapped in his eyes, his gaze shifted from fear to something completely different. I scanned his whole, beautiful, beaten in face, landing my gaze on his burst lip, my breath catching in my throat. Before I knew it, Dan had closed the space between us, his lips crashing into mine.