Apartment Thirty-Nine ~d.j.h~

~12~

Knock, Knock, Knock.

I woke up to the sound of a fist knocking on my wooden door.

"Coming, coming." I groaned.

I opened the door as I squinted from the bright rays of sun beaming through the windows.

"Hello, Frankie!" A joyful voice said.

"Phil? What are you doing here?"

"Dan invited me over to the apartments and he said yours was right here, so I decided to stop by. Can I look around?" His eyes roamed my apartment, already letting himself in.

"It looks the same as Dan's. Just lacking of piano." He added, giggling.

"Yeah." I rubbed my eyes, heading to the kitchen and pouring a bowl of cereal.

"Oh! Can I have some cereal?" He ran over to me, sitting down at the counter.

"Sure." I added a bowl, filling it and sliding it to him.

"Hello?" A voice rang from the door frame.

"Dan!" Phil slung his arms up in celebration, his mouth full of cereal, milk spilling from the corners of his lips.

"Frankie, I need to talk to you. Out here." Dan said his eyes shifting away from Phil, quickly.

"Yeah, yeah. Of course." I said setting down my bowl. Phil's smile faded away and his eyes peered down at his bowl. His eyebrows knitted together as Dan closed the door behind us.

"What's up?" I asked, leaning against the wall awkwardly.

"I didn't tell you this, but I wouldn't mention much about Jenna today around Phil."

"Why? What happened? Is she okay?" My eyes went wide at the thought of Jenna being injured or dead. The world was full of endless possibilities.

"He had to leave her at home with someone to watch over her. Phil hates leaving Jenna alone like that. He hates it so much."

"What are you talking about, Dan?" I straightened up, leaning in a bit. My voice was almost at a whisper.

"Jenna has Schizophrenia. Severe. He can't leave her alone."

"What's that? I majored in Art, not.. Brain stuff." I lied.

"She doesn't see the world as it really is sometimes. She says she sees things and hears things. It isn't real."

"Oh my gosh.. Is she okay?"

"She is fine. The real question is if Phil is fine. He told me he couldn't watch over her again for a while. Last night, she had one of her worst episodes. She was afraid of Phil. Jenna thought he was going to hurt her or worse..."
He paused, biting his lip.
"She beat him, Frankie. Bruises are all up the sides of his arms, torso. Everywhere. We don't know why she retaliated like that. Phil doesn't know how to fight back or at least stop her. I found him in his apartment on the floor, crying in a ball and shaking. She heard some horrible things. No idea what she was hearing or being persuaded to do. It wasn't real, though. She just didn't know that."