Rebuilding

To Hell With You

The loud buzzer rang from my phone at twelve o’clock PM exactly. I jumped out of bed and quickly got dressed. My red and black plaid button up would do nicely. After I finished straightening my hair, my stomach made an incredibly loud noise. I walked into the kitchen and made myself a sandwich and poured myself a glass of Fanta. With my lunch in hand, I walked into the lounge, sat on the couch, and proceeded to eat and watch Adventure Time. As I was finishing my sandwich, Dan walked into the lounge, dressed in his “hideously attractive shirt of many colors” and black jeans.

            “Sweet, Adventure Time!” Dan exclaimed, making himself comfortable next to me. I wiped the crumbs off my mouth and took my plate and empty glass into the kitchen. The clock read 1:23 PM. I figured Dan and I should start on the video, so I walked back into the lounge.

            “Well, the time has arrived!” I said, making large gestures with my hands and speaking in my best king-like accent. “You excited?!”

            “Hell yeah!” Dan said, bringing his hands up to play a five-second air guitar solo. When he had finished with his explosion of anticipation, I spoke up again.

            “Alright then!” I said, laughing. “I set the camera up in my room last night, so we’re all ready to go.” I began to make my way out of the lounge.

            “Wait, what?” Dan asked, a complete expression of confusion on his face.

            “Well,” I began, “I figured since the ‘Phil is Not on Fire’ videos have always been filmed in my room, we would just do it in there. We can film in yours if you want, though. Or somewhere else here. Doesn’t matter to me.” The look of confusion on Dan’s face grew until something clicked in his head and his jaw dropped, his mouth gaping wide.

            “That’s today?!” Dan asked, sounding as if someone had just reminded him of the queen’s birthday.

            “You’re kidding, right? We talked about this last night!” He had to be joking. There was no way he forgot.

            “That’s what you were talking about? Phil, I’m taking Ella out today for our two month anniversary! I’m picking her up at two!” He had forgotten. He was so wrapped up in having a girlfriend he had completely forgotten about our plans to film a video.

            “Dan, we made these plans over two months ago! Before you met Ella!” I was borderline yelling at Dan, something I never did.

            “Correction!” Dan said, picking himself up from the couch. “It was the day we met Ella! You should remember. You were there, all over her, of course,” Dan said. He clearly knew I had once had feelings for her and he was saying this with intent to hurt.

            “I was not!” I yelled, quite loudly in fact.

            “Oh yes you were! Don’t deny it, Phil. You’re just jealous that she likes me and not you!” Dan was hitting where it hurt.

            “Will you just shut up, Dan?!” I yelled, walking over to him and getting in his face. He was only an inch or two taller than me, so it wasn’t hard to look him in the eye.

            “You’ve always been jealous of me! Everything I’ve ever done, all of my success!” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Dan was never that mean to anyone, and certainly never to me. We had been best friends for years! I couldn’t understand why he was acting so rudely. He was the one who had forgotten in the first place!

            “That’s it!” I said, turning away from him. I started down the stairs to leave. Dan called after me.

            “Where the hell are you going?”

            “Out! To hell with this video, and you. Have fun on your date,” I snapped back, not even turning to look at him.

            “I will!” Dan yelled as the large door shut behind me. I walked out onto the sidewalk and stopped. My head was spinning. The rain was coming down harder than ever, and I was getting more and more drenched by the second. Without a destination in mind, I quickly started to make my way across the street.

            I heard an incredibly loud honk, and then the sound of tires screeching against the asphalt. Looking up at the sky, I could hear a car door open and shut very loudly, and a girl screamed. A terrible pain shot through my entire body, and I brought my hand up to my face. I pulled it away from my forehead and saw that it was now completely red. I shut my eyes and could taste the blood filling my mouth. The pain was so horrendous, I couldn’t move. Everything around me was so terribly loud, but then all the noise started to fade, and so did my vision.

            “Phil!” I heard Dan’s voice scream louder than ever before. He sounded frantic. “Phil, oh my god, are you okay? Phil, answer me! Phil!” I couldn’t bring myself to open my eyes, but I could feel him kneeling next to me, running his hands along my body in an attempt to bring my attention to him.

            “Sir,” an unknown voice said, “Sir, we’re going to need you to step away!”

            “This is my best friend!” Dan yelled.

            “Well he’s badly injured. He needs to be taken to A&E, immediately.” I felt two strong pairs of hands lift me and lay me down on what I could only imagine was a medical gurney.

            “Dan…” I managed to speak up on more time. My voice was so soft and frail, I hardly recognized it as my own.

            “I’m right here…” Dan’s voice trailed off, as did the rest of the noises around me, and blackness completely overcame me.