Riddle Middle Two

Chapter 8: The Helplessness

Phil (3rd person)

Phil woke up in his room, drenched in sweat. "Phil?" His mom asked. Last time, it'd been Lila who'd waken him. Phil stared up at her, confused. "Phil, you scared me..." she said. "It's Saturday, isn't it? Let me sleep!" Phil said, raising his voice a bit. "Phil, it's two in the afternoon. You never sleep this late!" She said. "Two?" Phil said, realizing that it was pretty light in his room. "Oh..." Phil said. "You weren't waking up. I was about to call an ambulance," she said. "Well, I'm awake now," Phil said. His mom left, and Phil climbed out of bed. The first thing he did was take a shower. After he'd eaten, he'd decided to call Smiley. "Hello? Phil?" Smiley asked, answering. "Hey Smiley. You had that dream too, right? With going to the future again and then the humanoids?" Phil asked. "Yeah," Smiley responded. "Good. Did you sleep really late too? I just woke up," Phil said. "Same," she said. "I guess that figures. Okay, well, I have to go now, bye," Phil said, hanging up before she could say anything else.

Phil (1st person)

Me and my friends decided to meet at the park to discuss this more, so we didn't have to worry about lagging or anything else with calling. We hadn't confirmed with Phred, so I called him. He answered the second time I called. "Hey Phred, we're going to the park to talk about our dream. Want to come?" I asked. "Oh, um... I'd love to, but, uh... My cat got a... Thorn... In her... Eye..." he said. I didn't know why he was trailing off so much, but I ignored that. "Ouch. How'd that even happen? Doesn't she stay inside?" I asked. "Yeah, I don't know," he said. "Alright, well, I hope she's okay... Bye," I said. He hung up before I finished.

Me and my friends met in the park like we'd planned. We spent about a tenth of our time talking about the dream, which sounded the same for all of us. It was fun, I guess, but not the same. Around five, I decided to go to Phred's apartment. After taking the elevator, I walked to his door and knocked loudly. Phred opened the door. He looked tired. "Phil..? I'm busy right now..." he said. "With what?" I asked. "Umm... My cat has a bunch of medicine that she's refusing to take. I have to give it to her before she... Uh... Dies..." he said. "Oh, well, maybe I could help?" I said. "No, Phil, I-" he stopped when his cat walked up and sat next to him. She meowed loudly. She looked fine. "Didn't you say she had a thorn in her eye?" I asked. "Look, I'm busy, okay?! Just go away!" Phred yelled, slamming the door. I felt like crying.

Why was he acting like this? I got home and ate, then i went straight to bed, even though it was only around eight. I woke up the next morning at seven when Bagel put his cold nose in my eye. Oh, yeah, it's summer now. I'm glad schools finally over. I swatted Bagel's nose away from my face. "What do you want? It's so early!" I said. He wagged his tail. I assumed he wanted to go for a walk, so I grabbed his leash and went outside. I'd left a note on the counter so my mom wouldn't come looking for me. I planned to walk him to school and back. He can't go much farther than that. I've tried, and he's always fine on the way there, but I have to carry him back. I ran into Phred on the way there. "Phred?" I asked, running up to him. He didn't say anything. "What are you doing out here so early?" I asked. "Just walking..." he said.

He didn't seem to want to talk, so I sighed and walked behind him. When we got to school, he turned and walked down a different street. I turned around and walked Bagel back. Halfway back, he started getting slower. We were almost there when we flopped over in the grass. "C'mon Bagel! We're so close!" I said. He's really heavy, and I didn't want to carry him, even if it was only for a couple of minutes. He looked at me, his tongue lolling out of his mouth. I grunted in frustration and hauled him up. I reluctantly carried him back. I put him down, and he waddled to his bed and lied down. I went back out to see Smiley. I hoped she was home so I didn't have to walk a mile for no reason. I got to her house and went over to her window. I knocked on her door three times, then paused, then two times. That's what we'd decided to do so I didn't have to face her mom and so she'd know it's me.

Smiley opened the window. "Hey Phil. Is everything alright?" Smiley asked. "Yeah, everything's fine, I just wanted to see you," I said. "That's nice. Hey, you went to Phred's apartment yesterday, is he okay?" She asked. "Hm? Oh, yeah, uh... Something's off. He told me his cat got a thorn in her eye and she needed medicine, but his cat looked fine. He was walking at the same time I was walking Bagel, around seven, but he wouldn't tell me why," I said. "Hmm... Well, maybe he-" Smiley froze as her mom flung the door open. "Smiley, I told you to..." her mom stared at me. "I- I can explain!" I stammered. "Phil, go!" Smiley said. "Okay..." I said. I crouched out of view and Smiley closed her window.

I stood back up and listened. I couldn't hear exactly what they were saying, but they both seemed to be shouting. A few seconds later, Smiley, or at least I'm guessing Smiley, started crying. I desperately wanted to get back in there, but I couldn't, since the window had locked. Even if I could get in, how would I get past her mom? I went home. I went upstairs to check on Lila. My dad was at work, and everyone else was in the garage, looking at something dead, which I didn't want any part in. I knocked on her door. "One second!" She called. I waited outside for a minute, then she opened the door. "Phil? Do you need something?" She asked. "No, I was just making sure you're alright," I said. "Oh... That's nice, I guess," she said. I don't why she added the 'I guess', but whatever. "Well then, I guess I'll leave now," I said. "Okay," she said, going back to her chair. I'd wanted her to try to stop me, but she didn't seem to care at all.

"...Okay... Should I close the door?" I asked. "Leave it cracked for Bagel," she said. "Okay... Bye..." I said. She didn't reply; she just went back to writing or drawing or whatever she was doing. I went back to my room, but I couldn't think of anything to do. I went back into the hallway. Lila walked out of her room and went downstairs. Without thinking, I went into her room. I went over to her desk. I immediately recognized her diary. If this was the first time I saw it, I wouldn't even known what it was, but I'd seen her writing in it before. I was tempted to look inside. What kind of stuff did she write about me? Then I thought of a another reason. She'd been with me and my friends during the future-humanoid dream, so maybe she wrote about that. I flipped to the page with yesterday's date. Sure enough, she'd had the dream. "Phil, what are you doing?!" I heard from behind me. I turned around. "Why didn't you tell me about your dream?! Me and my friends all had the same ones!" I said. "If you thought something was off, you could've just asked if I'd had the dream! It's not like you tell me about every dream you have!" She said. She had a good point, but I didn't want to admit that.

I made my way to the door. I stepped outside of her room. "Wait, one more thing, did you-" she slammed the door before I could finish. I was gonna ask if she had other future dreams, but she wouldn't let me back in. I went back to my room. Everyone came back from the garage, so my parents and brothers were scattered around the living room. I went downstairs, still bored. Lila followed me and went into the bathroom. I didn't see her face, but her arms looked a bit discolored. I waited outside for her. After thirty minutes, when she wasn't out, I knocked on the door and called her name. "Go away!" She yelled. I was about to protest when I realized there wasn't any point. She can be really stubborn sometimes. I just went back upstairs to my room. The next day, to get everything sorted out, I texted our group chat to see if they wanted to meet somewhere. Lila simply called 'no' from her room. Smiley said she was running errands with her mom, but maybe later. That made me feel better. At least she was okay. Phred said he was still 'busy' with something. Pico didn't reply. Zack said he was watching Bryan. Lauren hadn't been online in awhile. Great. I stalled until around sunset, I had some leftovers, then I slept.