Pathos - A Duskwood Fanfiction

Chapter 28

(Author's note: another shawty today, sorrrrry. But a big bastard of a chapter is up next, I swearsies. I love you all. ❤️)

As Jake boarded a bus in a city that was hundreds of miles away from Duskwood, Lilly was walking around to the back of the Aurora bar to where Phil lived in a modest attached loft apartment. As she rounded the corner that would put her in view of Phil's front door, she activated the phone in her hand and opened a text box to Jessy.

I'm here. No rush though, take your time.

She pressed send on the message and looked up again as she slipped the phone back into her coat pocket, slowly coming to a stop as she saw Phil standing outside. He was leaning forward with his forearms resting on the wood railing of the wraparound porch, hands loosely clasped as he stared at the ground below. He appeared to be deep in thought; indeed, he had not seemed to have registered her approach at all.

His long dark hair hung loosely around his face, and a thin hand-rolled cigarette hung loosely from his lips as slender spirals of sweet smelling smoke rose from the crimson glowing tip and drifted into the air above his head. As she watched, she began to register the frown on his features, a sombre frown that was heavy with introspection and something that almost looked like sadness.

She remained still and silent, suddenly feeling uncertain and awkward as she watched him, having not seen him present himself in any way other than supremely confident and easygoing before. She felt as though she was intruding on an intensely private moment, and her instinct was to turn and leave as quietly as she could in the direction that she had come from.

But before she could enact any physical movement to accomplish this goal, Phil spoke quietly.

"Hey, Lilly."

His eyes did not lift from the ground where they seemed to be perpetually locked as he greeted her, and she realized with a slight internal cringe of embarrassment that he had to have been aware of her presence for the entirety of the time that she had stood there gawking at him.

"Hey," she replied after a moment, trying to read his expression through the smoke that was wafting across his face. "Jessy asked me to come by."

At this, Phil nodded absently, still keeping his gaze forward and down. Slowly, as though in a trance, he lifted a hand to his lips where he caught the cigarette between two fingers, pulling it down and flicking it slightly to rid it of its ashen cargo before replacing it between his lips once more.

"Yeah, she said. You can go in if you want. She was taking a shower. Might be done now."

Lilly nodded sightly at Phil's reply, but stayed where she was, awkwardly watching him as she tried to formulate a way of asking if he was alright without sounding like she was prying or making him uncomfortable by addressing that she'd noticed his behaviour at all.

"Long day?" she asked hesitantly, and that was when Phil finally raised his gaze to look at her. It was the slow, jerking movement of his eyes as they drifted up towards her that unnerved her slightly - he looked...lost. Once his focus finally coalesced on her face, she swallowed in mute concern as she saw the grim weight in his eyes, an unfamiliar darkness now shrouding his customarily placid gaze in disconcerting shadow.

"Long couple of months," he eventually replied, watching her emptily. "But, preaching to the choir," he murmured with a forced half smile that fell away the instant that it had appeared.

She nodded again at this and began to approach the small set of stairs that stood next to him, climbing them slowly until she stood at his side. She made her way around him and then leaned the small of her back against the porch railing, facing in towards the apartment in juxtaposition to Phil's forward facing posture. She crossed her arms over her chest as she did so, bowing her head slightly in thought as the silence extended between them.