Colors (Phan AU)

twenty two

An envelope sat on the corner of the bed, begging to be opened. Dan stared at it, scared to reveal the contents it hid inside. He wished it and all of his other problems would just go away, but as he sat with the envelope in silence, he feared nothing would change.

It looked exactly as the first envelope had, just this time a number two was engraved in the wax. He tried to convince himself it was a prank from one of his friends, but nothing he told himself could change his mind about it. The envelope gave Dan an odd feeling, causing goosebumps to crawl into formation onto his skin. He thought of everything that had happened- the death of his friends, Louise, and now his relationship with Phil. He couldn't help but think that it all tied together somehow.

The first envelope had claimed that he knew something he shouldn't, yet he could not figure out what. He remembered the note Chris had left him. Dan thought maybe he knew too much about Chris's suicide. Had Chris told him something in that note that someone else didn't want him to know?

"I never wanted to do it."

What led him to do it?

"I never wanted to do any of it."

Did love drive him to madness?

"I was forced to..."

He had seen the colors too, hadn't he?
He had been in love.
He was forced to do what he did.

Dan pulled out the first envelope from his desk drawer. He let his eyes take in the information one more time.

"It has come to our attention..."

Our?

"...that you have information that you should not."

He couldn't wait any longer; Dan opened the envelope with the number two in the wax. The paper slid out of the envelope, and Dan stared at it in his shaky hands. His lungs refused to take in air as he forced his fingers to unfold the letter. His brain couldn't believe what his eyes were reading.

"You have seen too much, and now we are watching you."

The paper slipped out of Dan's hands and fluttered to the bedroom floor. He couldn't make himself look away from it, and he was more terrified than ever. Whoever was doing this to him, he couldn't figure out. Dan allowed a tear to slide down his cheek and land softly on the black and white duvet. Several more tears followed the first until Dan was a sobbing mess rolled up into a ball on his bed. Nothing made sense to him anymore.

Sleep eventually took him over, and the tears ceased to flow.

Dan woke hours later with his hair dried to his face and his eyes glued shut with sleep dust. He sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, and looked around his bedroom. It was becoming dark out, he noticed, but everything else appeared to be exactly as it had been before he fell asleep. Time inside his bedroom seemed as though it was not counting even the seconds, and the outside world was still aging as fast as ever. Dan felt he had an eternity to think.

Both of the envelopes- which he had picked up and held in his hands- were obviously from the same person. Or as they both implied, people. He began to wonder where these people were and if they were close enough to find them. Dan decided if he could find where these people were, he could learn all he needed. He knew he would need help, so he made a mental list of friends that would be of use. He called the only three people he cared to trust after what had been happening and invited them over.

An hour later, Phil, Tyler, and Troye all sat on Dan's bed while he paced his bedroom floor. Briefly he explained all that had happened with the envelopes and the note he and Phil had found from Chris. He explained how he thought they all tied together and that someone was out to get him.

"But couldn't the envelopes be some kind of prank?" Tyler asked, hoping to make Dan feel better about the situation.

Phil shook his head. "No, I think it's real. I was there when Dan got the first envelope, and it had an odd feeling even then. Now that there's a second one, and it's even weirder, I'm thinking something's definitely up."

Dan continued pacing as he spoke. "I had thought maybe it was Louise messing with me, but now I don't know. I want to find out who these people are, and I want to figure out what the hell is going on here."

"Dan," Troye spoke up, "maybe we should just go to the police, yano, let them handle it."

"They'd be able to find these people easily," Phil added confidently.

"What if they don't?" Dan began to pace faster. "What if they can't figure it out? What if they pass it off as some kind of prank from a bunch of high school students? What if they don't believe us?"

"They've got to," Tyler said. "Some weird shit has been happening with our friends, so they've got to take this seriously. And besides, we've got evidence, Dan. These are threats now that these people are sending you. The police will want to track them down."

"Okay, okay, fine," Dan gave in. "We will go to the police tomorrow. It's too late to leave right now without my mom questioning us, and I'd rather keep this from her. I feel like this is something we have to deal with alone."

"Yeah," Phil said. "I think so too. I get the feeling these people don't want anyone else to know. Maybe like they're hiding something..."

"Wait!" Dan stopped in his tracks. "That's it! They're hiding something! These people definitely know something about our friends' deaths. Maybe they even caused it."

Tyler sat up straight. "The note from Chris!" He exclaimed. "It said he was forced to do it; maybe these people are what made him do it!"

"Guys," Troye said, "Chris was in love with Dan, right? Which means he's seen the colors, as we have. So had Caspar and Pj. I don't know of anyone else who has seen the colors, so maybe that's why those three were targeted."

"Colors?" Phil asked. "You think the colors have something to do with all of this mess?"

Dan shrugged, and agreed with Troye. "It makes sense. Although, why hasn't Louise been targeted? I mean, we did see the colors together. Oh shit, I hope she's not next."

"We should warn her about what's going on," Phil suggested. "I can call her right now and maybe even get her over here."

"No," Dan stopped him. "Something's not right. Why am I getting the envelopes and she hasn't? None of you have gotten one either..."

"Well," Tyler said, "you did know Chris, Pj, and Caspar better than all of us."

Troye added, "yeah, definitely. But maybe she has gotten one and we just don't know."

"I don't know," Dan sighed. "You have seen too much, and now we are watching you," he quoted the second letter in a mumble to himself. "I only know one thing."

"What's that?" Phil asked.

"Someone's got a problem with colors."