Speak up already - Phan

END

Dil sat around the tv, huddled by his closest friends. A big bowl of popcorn sat on his lap as he leant into Kei's touch, who was sat beside him.

He didn't realise when it happened. One minute he was watching characters talk about singing on TV and the next his eyelids were shut and he felt his breaths soothe to a steadier pace. And soon he had dozed off into another fantasy.

~

This was weird.

Dil was watching but not from a normal height. But as if he was a camera planted on the ceiling. Watching the ever move. His first fantasy.

"Phil, why don't you talk to us anymore?"

A woman before him sobbed hysterically, hugging the middle-aged man beside him. She had medium blonde-brown hair and her face looked young. Yet she was wrinkling from stress.

"Son, we are really worried, the last time any of us heard your voice was...well I can't bloody remember!"

The man sighed sadly. Then Dil finally noticed who they were talking to. His eyes panned towards where the two were looking. There sat a young boy.

He looked lost. Small and fragile. Arms bony, hair jet black and eyes narrowed with dark circles. He looked as if he could pass off for at least three years older than he really was if it weren't for his small frame.

The boy frowned. No answer. Just a slouch in shoulders. And then the scene began to disappear before Dil's very eyes.

Now it was in some sort of kitchen. It looked oddly familiar.

The same woman who seemed about 3 or 4 years older was preparing breakfast. She cleared her throat and took a step into the hallway.

"PHIL! BREAKFAST!"

This is promptly followed by the trudging footsteps of the boy from earlier, also looking slightly older. His shoulders had become a big broader and a few spots littered his face showing the signs of puberty at work. His hair was shorter, but only slightly, and he was wearing a school uniform.

The woman looks up at presumably her son with a hopeful look, then frowns.

"No breakfast, honey?" She sighs.

Then the boy gets out this notebook.

That notebook seems familiar, Dil thought to himself. It was small and black, pocket sized with a pen, he scribbled down a few words that Dil could barely read out.

'No thanks,mum.' it read.

Where have I seen this before?

Then the scene changes again. The location is presumably a classroom full of students.

"Class, this is Daniel, our newest student. Treat him with kindness and respect like you would treat your best friend. Now let's see where we can put you...ah! Lester!"

Dil gasped, now in physical form, managing to stumble back slightly. He knew he was slow but he never thought he wouldn't be able to recognise his own parents.

Dan happily made his way besides this boy who sat with an uninviting body language.

"Dan." The brown-haired boy greeted with a cheerful smile.

The other male quickly noted something down in a fast pace. "Hi, I'm Phil." It read.

"Don't like talking huh?" Dan asks, causing Dil to face-palm, shaking his head.

'I don't talk because 'I don't want to', I don't talk because I don't deserve to. I suffer depression, so trying to make 'small talk' with me won't lighten the mood Dan. You probably won't want to be my friend now.'

Dil could visibly read what his father had written and also cringed. Open much? He thought to himself.

Dan looks shocked, smiling back sympathetically, before quickly wiping away that face, and replacing it with his signature goofy smile.

"Well, Phil Lester, I would love to be your friend. You sound like quite a character." He chuckles, his brown eyes glowing with anticipation.

Dil watched, puzzled with confusion.

Was this where everything started?

Or ends?

xx