Colors (Phan AU)

twenty three

Tyler and Troye slept in a burrito of blankets on the floor; they'd let Dan and Phil have the bed to themselves. The room was dimly lit as the sun hadn't began to rise quite yet. It was silent, minus the soft breathing (and occasionally snoring) of the four boys sleeping peacefully.

However, the serenity was suddenly disturbed by a loud thunk on the bedroom window. Dan was the first one to sit up in confusion, followed by Phil and the others. He crawled out of bed and began tiptoeing to the window.

"What the heck was that?" Troye asked sleepily as he wiped his eyes.

"It sounded like a rock or something," Tyler suggested. He too was rubbing his eyes, begging the sleep to leave them.

As Dan reached the window, he saw that indeed it was a small rock. He noticed a small scratch where the rock had hit the very bottom of the window, but he was surprised the glass hadn't cracked. The rock barely balanced on the window sill outside, and Dan thought it was odd it hadn't bounced off. Next to the rock was an envelope that appeared to be much like the two he had received before. Dan opened the window and grabbed the envelope but threw the rock into the yard below. There appeared to be no one outside, but Dan figured they were concealed by the dark.

He shut the window and turned to the others. All he had to do was hold up the envelope for the others to groan. Dan shrugged and said, "maybe we can get another hint from it."

Phil moaned, "but couldn't they have waited until we were already awake? I was sleeping so well!"

Dan just shrugged once more and sat on the bed next to Phil so that they were facing Tyler and Troye, who remained on the floor. With shaky hands, Dan slowly peeled open the envelope, which had a wax stamp of a number three. As Dan pulled the letter from the envelope, he took in a breath and let it out only when he unfolded the paper. The other boys watched nervously, but curiously, as they all wanted to know it's contents.

"Phil," Dan asked, "can you turn on the lamp please?"

Phil did as asked and then watched Dan's eyes skim the letter. "What's it say, babe?" He wondered.

When he was done reading to himself, he read it aloud to the others. "'We request of you to not try anything you will regret. Any further movements toward us will result in severe consequences.'"

They sat silently for a moment in order to process the letter's request. Then Tyler spoke, "hey Dan, look- there's writing on the back." He pointed to the top right hand corner of the side he was looking at. Dan turned the paper over and recognized the handwriting, yet could not put a name or face to it.

"All it says is 'I'm sorry'," Dan informed them. "I swear I know this handwriting..." He bit his lip as he tried to place it.

"Here, lemme see." Phil took the note from Dan's hands and studied the scribbled writing. "It does look familiar, but a lot of people have handwriting like this."

"No," Dan shook his head and muttered, "I know that handwriting. I just can't remember who it belongs to."

Phil passed the letter to Tyler and Troye to see if they knew who the writing belonged to. They both claimed to have no clue. After they pondered it for a little while, they came up with absolutely nothing.

"Obviously none of us know right now. Why don't we make a plan for today and see if we can figure it out later?" Phil suggested. The sun started to rise, so they figured they should agree with Phil.

"If we go to the police, maybe they'd agree to let us look through evidence they've found from all of the shit that's happened lately," Dan said hopefully.

"Doubt it. I mean, it's classified information, so why would they let a bunch of teenagers dig through it?" Tyler told him.

"But maybe they'd at least consider this for a case," Troye added. "I'm with Dan on this; we should go to the police, even if they don't let us in on the evidence."

"Like I said last night, this is something to keep between us, but we need help. The police might be able to give us some support," Dan said.

"I know, I know. I'm just saying that they won't let us in on classified information," Tyler defended himself.

"Alright, we'll go to the police then," Phil declared in a voice that indicated he was trying to take control. He suggested searching Caspar and Pj's houses in hopes of finding more evidence. Dan quickly said that they should let the police handle it, but Phil argued to do it himself. Also, since they were suspicious of Louise getting letters, Phil suggested talking to her.

In the end they decided to split up. Tyler and Dan would go to the police with the letters and the note from Chris. They'd try to get a case open to find whoever was sending them the threats. Troye and Phil were to speak with Louise and find out if she had gotten anything suspicious. Then they'd search their friends' bedrooms for further evidence. Though Dan complained about Phil wanting to search for evidence himself, he eventually placed a quick kiss on Phil's lips and left with Tyler.

At the police station, the two boys asked for a case to be opened based on the evidence they had. Without a parent, the woman at the desk raised an eyebrow at them. Eventually she gave in, and Dan and Tyler were taken into an office where a man called Officer George greeted them with handshakes. The buff officer politely asked them to take a seat and present their evidence.

"We have three letters and a note from one our friends who recently passed," Tyler told the officer as he placed the papers on the large, metal desk.

"The friend who killed himself after being accused of killing one of our other friends." Dan nervously bit his lip when he said this.

"Ah," said the officer, "Chris Kendall, was it?"

Dan and Tyler both nodded.

"I never met the boy personally, but I hear he was a good kid. Shame what he did though. Anyways, let's see those letters you've got there." Officer George slid the papers to his side of the desk, then read each one carefully. When he was finished and had gathered a conclusion, he spoke, "well, boys, I just don't know if there's enough evidence here to help us. Sure, these sound like a case, but we can't build a case off of just minor threats."

"But," Tyler spoke up, "what about the note from Chris? In that note he said he didn't want to do it but he was forced to. Whoever sent those letters could've forced him to kill himself!"

"Or he felt guilty about killing his friend out of jealousy and forced the blame onto someone else." The officer signed at Dan and Tyler's upset faces. "Look, we don't know what happened with Kendal and the other boy- Pj was it? But if this note is from Chris himself, then this is further evidence that he committed the murder. However, this could very well just be a prank of yours or some of your buddies."

"But sir," Dan interjected. "We didn't write these, and we don't know anyone who would!"

"I'm sorry, boys, I just can't file a case with a lack of evidence. Now if you're really worried, make sure to lock your doors at night. Good evening, boys."

"How rude!" Tyler nearly shouted as they were getting back in the car.

"Yeah, but I guess we really don't have that much evidence..." Dan trailed off and began biting his lip again.

Tyler sighed. "Let's just hope Troye and Phil found something."