The Forgotten Chapters - Phan

Chapter 7

Phil's POV  
"Morning mum."
"Ah good, you're awake. I need to go shopping this afternoon, will you be alright on your own?" I looked at my mum like a child looks at their mum after overhearing them tell an embarrassing and obviously personal story to the other mums in the playground. Mums seem to be the capital city of 'how much can one person embarrass another' island. They are damn good at it though.
"I'll be fine mum. I'm not 10 anymore. Besides, I was thinking about going to Dan's house later on anyway." Most people would have taken that as sarcastic, defensive, rude, but with my oddly cheery voice I just about pulled it off as a well-behaved boy who played the cello and went to golf with father on the weekends. I'd never seen a real cello before, or my real dad for that matter, but I'm sure I could play golf if I could be bothered to get dressed one weekend.
"Oh I know honey but you know I-"
"Sorry mum. It's already 11 AM, I should start heading to Dan's house." I cut off my mum just in time. One second later and I'd still be stood there now, in my Star Wars pyjamas with a bowl of shreddies, listening to my mum drone on about how much I've grown up. No one wants that. I dressed casually in jeans and a cat shirt before grabbing the house keys then leaving with out a trace. As much as I loved my mum, I couldn't bare to listen to inaccurate descriptions of my hight at four years old.

I knew the route to Dan's house like the back of my hand. By that, I mean that I had the directions to Dan's house scribbled out in a black biro on the back of my rather sweaty hand. I'd never been good at directions, so naturally, I walked in the wrong direction from the get go.

It took me around forty minutes to find the secluded building. It was hard to describe, I'd seen it before but I'd never looked at it probably. The garden was a mess of overgrown weeds that had all seemed to merge into one freak of nature. A path led to the smart plastic door, probably the only descent thing about the house. A jeep was sat almost abandoned in the forest of plants with clear tire marks on the grass. Overall, the building looked derelict. It was rather strange to stand on the edge of the road, just staring at the building but I couldn't make myself walk any closer. The whole house had a force field surrounding it, protecting its residents from nosey neighbours and zombies.

It took quite a bit of effort for me to break the force field and adventure through a jungle to the front door. I knocked on the door delicately almost afraid to brake the only nice thing the small family seemed to own. Apart from a perfect son, but that thought seemed to vanish when I waded deeper through the force field.

Knocking on the door seemed to be a whole other problem of its own. If I'd of known it would be so difficult to get to Dan, I would have gone shopping with my mum. Well, maybe not. No one likes food shopping but adults
"Ahh Richie you- who are you?" A rather slim woman held the door tightly and stared at me with the greenest eyes I had ever seen. She was sort of intimidating to look at. A cigarette hanging from her lips, a tight shirt and a mini skirt. She was definitely too old to be dressing like a school girl.
"Hello, is Dan home?" She looked at me with what I thought to be disgust, but honestly, it could have been anything. It was hard to tell when all her features seemed to look so tired.
"Who's asking?"
"Oh um right. I'm Phil I go to school-" before I had a chance to finish, the women who I presumed to be Dan's mum dragged me inside.
"What right do you think you have to come to my house young man?" I couldn't tell if she was trying to intimidate me more or actually wanted a proper answer to her question.
"I um, I just wanted to er, see Dan and-" I stuttered under her semi intimidating glare. She seemed to enjoy cutting me off which didn't help the situation.
"You can't come here, do you understand? If someone were to see you, your life wouldn't be worth living. Stay here." I wasn't quite sure what she was trying to tell me, just that I wasn't wanted in her house. Even the building's residents couldn't see the house as a home.

I stood for a few minutes simply staring at the damp walls in the oddly thin corridor before a familiar boy was pushed in front of me.
"Five minutes, then you need to disappear." I nodded, not really listening. What was going on? Honestly, I had no idea. Dan stood almost in tears right in front of me but my brain couldn't register what was going on. I wasn't sure why but I didn't know how to speak to him.
"Phil, why are you at my house? It's like, noon. You made me get out of bed."
"Why can't I stay?" My brain suddenly clicked and questions appeared all around me. "Is that your mum? Why does this house look like something out of an indie movie? What is that smell? Why is-" apparently Dan had inherited the same trait as his mum. He put a finger to my lips.
"Stop asking questions, Philly. My mum is going out soon and probably doesn't trust us being alone together. Everything is fine." I didn't believe anything Dan just said, but once he leant forward to wrap his arms around my waist, I'd forgotten what he had said anyway.
"You best be going, Phil. I'll phone you later though. Maybe we could go school shopping or something tomorrow. I need some pens and my blazer is getting a bit short." He was talking so much like my mum when she has to tell me bad news. Sickly sweet with a sprinkling of a completely different subject to take your mind off things. I wasn't going to argue though, spending a day shopping with Dan actually sounded fun. Besides my mind was in a weird sort of daze, I definitely wasn't thinking straight. I stepped back onto the edge of the road without really thinking about it. As I did so, I felt normal again, but yet I still wasn't really sure what had just happened. The forcefield around Dan's house wasn't to protect the grotty building's residents. It was to manipulate outsiders, force them out with whatever strange magic it held.