Hurts Like Heaven

Chapter Six

Phil wore his black hoodie and dark jeans, sneaking out his window so his parents wouldn’t hear him leaving out the front or back door.  It was really late; they’d be angry to find him leaving at this hour.  He felt his heart race as he ran down the streets so he could get to the main street in town on time.  It was normally a half hour walk or so, but he managed it in about fifteen minutes by rushing through yards and scaling over the gates of the park.  He felt so rebellious just for sneaking out at night, he had no clue how he’d feel if—no, when—he helped Dan make a “message.” 

He ran into the space between two of the main buildings in town and checked his phone.  A couple minutes until two a.m.  He felt his heart beat a little faster as he tried to catch his breath; this was so, so unlike him.  Is this how Dan felt when he started?  Phil wondered.  The idea made him question if he could actually go through with something like this or not.  He came to the conclusion that if Dan could do it, so could he.

“There you are!” Dan spoke from beside him.  Phil jumped at the sudden sound and tried to calm down.  “I was starting to wonder if you fell asleep or something.” 

“I think I’ve got enough adrenaline to keep me from that,” he laughed. 

“Adrenaline is always fun, partly why I do what I do.” 

“Really?”

“No, not really,” he smiled, “I think if I was after the rush, I’d do something else.”

“So this really is just to get your thoughts out, huh?”

“Pretty much.  I kind of want to try to make change, too.”  The streets were silent aside from their conversation, making him a bit uncomfortable—he wasn’t used to the emptiness.  What if someone was around?  What if someone heard them?  Phil shook the idea out of his head.  Dan would have been careful planning it, he was almost certain.

“People are noticing your stuff, I think you’re doing a good job.”  He was reminded of the multiple times he’d seen cops observing something Dan had painted on the side of the building and the onlookers commenting about it.  They looked at it like it was a puzzle of some kind when it was really just thoughts.  He wondered when people would open their eyes and simply read what was written.

“Noticing isn’t enough,” he commented.  “I just want to be happy.  I want people to be free from all of these stupid standards so they can be happy.  I don’t know that it’ll change anything any time soon, though.”  A few seconds passed.  “If it changes anything at all.”

Phil frowned a bit.  “Let’s make a change, then.”  Dan’s expression turned to what Phil decided was confusion and excitement.  It was probably the last thing Dan (or Phil himself) expected to be said.  A smile formed at the corner of his lips as he tossed Phil a can of vivid indigo spray paint.