We Don't Believe What's on TV

Chapter Fifteen - Happily Ever After What?

"What the fuck?"

"What's going on?" Phil.

I stood in horror, knowing that even if I tried to run, he would see who I was. I was staring straight into the face of the man I had been avoiding forever.

I didn't say a word. There we all were, me, Phil, and a man who I'd never seen before in my life, all standing on the battlefield that had been my downfall.

Phil dropped the box he was holding with a crash. I watched my old lightbulb lamp smash to pieces in the bottom of it. "Out," he demanded. "Get out."

I stared at him, drinking in his face. I hadn't seen him for so long. I'd almost forgotten how much I'd missed him.

"Go!"

I opened my mouth, then shut it. Then again. My voice was high pitched when I tried to speak.

"Who - who the fuck is this?"

I gestured to the man behind me. His shell-shocked expression was so stupid I just wanted to slap it off his face.

A crash of thunder rolled across the sky, the exact sound that was pounding through my brain.

"Not important." Phil grabbed my arm harshly, and I looked straight into his eyes, scared and vulnerable. Now that I was here, In his house, touching him, I didn't know how to feel or talk. "Ph-Phil?"

He took a heated glance at the man standing behind me, the invader that was taking over my home. At once, confusion turned to anger. So this was the person Phil was trying to replace me with? So he was the one taking my spot, my room, my life, my happiness? I shook my arm free and grabbed the man's collar. "Who the fuck are you? Why the fuck are you here?" I shouted, knocking the box out of his hands. I heard glass shatter, and I didn't care. The expression on his face was ludicrous, and it made me hate him even more. "I said, WHY -!"

Phil ripped me away from the other man, yelling, "Hey!" so I turned to face him, too, my face hot with anger. He shoved me towards the stairs, so harshly that I stumbled down the first step. "You twat," I snapped as he came after me and kept pushing me until I had no choice but to be forced down the stairs.

I turned and pushed him, making him fall back in surprise. I turned around and began running. I threw open the doors, my mind and heart racing.

The thunderstorm was huge, and I didn't care anyway. It was so cold. I still didn't care.

God, you've really done it this time.

Phil was right behind me now, and I spun around, in complete oblivion as to why he was following me. - the I realized the way he was looking at me.

In his arms were things - so many things - my things.

"TAKE IT!"

His voice roared even over the sound of the thunder, and I jumped back like a wounded animal. He was only several feet away from me, but he threw the objects like he was miles away.

"Take it back! This thing - you motherfuc - this dumb thing - take it - I don't - "

My things. My cloud. My dream diary. My stylophone. My Guild Wars 2 figures.

They all fell to the ground with crashes that I could barely hear through the pounding rain, but rang through my ears and blasted through my head like a bullet. WIth every item he tossed, he took a step back.

"Fuck you anyway!" I yelled at him, scrambling for my things that were puddled in water. "Fuck you -"

Picking my Free! tissue box off the ground, I stared up at the sky. It was so loud. I'd never been in rain like this. If it hadn't been for the streetlamps, I wouldn't have been able to see a thing.

"I hate you!" Phil yelled at me, backed up against the tree. "All you bloody care about is yourself!"

He threw the last item he had in his hands on the ground - my camera.

It smashed on the pavement. I watched the lens crack and stared up at him, yards away from where he stood staring daggers at me.

"Phil, what the hell are you doing?"

"What the hell are you doing?" he demanded. The leaves around him caught the water droplets and as he swept his arm above his head, shaking the branches, they rained down upon him.

"You show up here - you break into our-MY house - what the hell? What the hell? God, Dan, you - who is benefiting from your idiotic antics? Who?" He screamed, hair whipping around his face.

I clenched my fists around the wet possessions I held in my arms.

"No one! Not you, not Tyler, not PJ, not that girl you're always with, no one. Get over your fucking self. I did." He sighs, barely audible in this racket, but I heard it echo and taunt me.

He got over me. He got over me miles before I ever got over him.

"I don't ever want to see you again! Please, I want you to leave. I can't look- I hate you so-"

That was the moment the lightning hit.