Lay Me Down

Family

   Phil had, over the next few weeks, ended up meeting everyone of Dan's relatives. He didn't know how to feel about it, but Mrs. Howell insisted, and if anything he went along with it for the sake of learning more about Dan so he'd be able to talk to things the boy would care about. It was strange to have Dan's parents on speed dial on his phone, but he enjoyed the families company.When his graduation rolled around both his and Dan's parents stood in the crowd. The curiosity he had for why they'd grown so attached to him grew to the point that one afternoon he decided to talk to Adrian, Dan's younger brother, about it. 

"What? You don't know? They're latching onto anything that reminds them of him, and you're just like him. They're in mourning, Phil, you can't expect them to make sense." 

 "Adrian, Dan's not dead." '

"Yet. But what's the difference at this point? Dad won't say his name half the time, Mum won't look at his room, my aunts and uncles all have written their letters of condolences on Facebook for fucks sake. They can't even stand to look at me because I look like him. I'm failed two classes and the last time they asked about my school work or even properly talked to me was a week before the accident. It's hard being the brother of a dead kid, all they see when they look at me is him." 

 Phil didn't know what to say, so he just stared, and as Dan's little brother began tearing up Phil leaned over and hugged him. 

 "I lost him too. They're not the only ones. He's my brother." the younger boy whispered and Phil nearly cried himself but thought it too selfish. They sat in quiet a long time. "Why do you come here all the time? It's depressing." Adrian said, finally, pulling away from Phil abruptly, standing up, and leaving the hospital cafe they'd been sitting in. Phil let him go off, not surprised to find Dan's room empty and his family gone when he came back to it.

They'd been struggling to visit more often, but it was always quiet and awkward and they never really spoke to Dan if anyone else was in the room. They'd almost seem to be playing a game, who would get to be the bad guy and suggest first that they leave like they all wanted to? 

As the month went on and slipped into July, they'd stopped coming again all together. Phil was almost relieved, in a way that made him angry with himself, but he figured it wasn't really that good for Dan to have them around anyway with the way they'd been. Phil was happy he'd talked to them so often, though, because now he read Dan the brunettes own favorite books and played him his own favorite music, (which was, luckily, a lot of Phil's own favorites) and talked to him and occasionally played DVDs of Dan's favorite TV shows and movies, describing in commentary what happened on screen. 

Dan's family, in what Phil suspected was a weird kind of shame, progressively talked to him less. He entered back into his old daily routine visits. Knowing he was going to university soon, Phil tried to think of ways he could still keep Dan company when he'd have busy days with school work, and eventually, came up the idea of videos.