glory and gore ; phan

xvi

any anguished word that tried desperately to claw its way through the spiderwebs that tainted the brunette's throat ceased to sound as they got caught; every syllable stuck in the ghostly lace that wrapped like fists around his defined neck. phil felt his legs go numb beneath him as the room went into a deafening silence, his brunette boyfriend's fingers fidgeting as his bruised bottom lip quivered. "w-what?" the raven-haired boy forced out, desperate for a fate he regretfully knew he could not obtain. his hazed vision laid locked on chris as he watched him gulp, his chapped lips parting slowly. "the hospital called, ade's gone, mate."

the baby bubblegum lips of the ebony-haired boy opened as the brunette remained silent; but closed quickly as dan swung his wiry body back rapidly at chris's attempted contact. "dan," the brunette started reluctantly, furrowing together his eyebrows as dan staggered back. "no, n-no," he shook his head as his back hit the frosted over door, sending a current of chills down his shivering spine. "not him, not him, god, please not him," he breathed huskily, shutting his eyes tightly in the hopes it was just a bad dream. phil stood in a trance; as if the fear of his desperation and guilt bleeding from his deathly still digits forced him from moving.

"dan," chris repeated softly, the brunette's uneven exhales of insanity pushing his compulsory body out of the building's thick toxicity. the door slammed sharply, the darkened sound echoing in the dark-haired boy's ears as he hazily watched chris go after him.

the brunette stumbled out of the building to the collapsing ink of the downpour with chris's blurred voice tracing his steps; liquid misery peppering the violet crescents of violence shadowing his under eyes. chris's voice faltered as dan's head hit the back of a taxi, leaving the ceased brunette in the torrential misery of the frosted weather.

"you aight', buddy?" a gravelly voice questioned from the front of the dented taxi, breaking dan from his clouded, spiderweb thoughts. his bloodshot irises faltered from the inked downpour to the crinkled, sparkling blue eyes of the driver. "ya okay?" the grey-haired man repeated as he furrowed together his thick eyebrows. dan only blinked his blood-tinged irises, turning back to the window as thunder cracked across the blackened sky.

the flickering, neon lights of a rundown bar glowed into his hazed vision as the taxi ceased; the brunette inhaling deeply as the driver shook his head at the trembling palm of crumpled cash. "ya look like you've had enough today, yanno, kid?" he weakly smiled, taking the iced keys out from the wheezing ignition. "mind 'f i join ya? friend of mine's the bartender," he shrugged, earning a weak nod from the brunette as he swung his wiry body out of the car.

the thickening oxygen of nicotine and cannabis flooded into his darkened ribs as they skulked into the clouded bar, the driver taking a seat on the bar stool beside him. "whiskey," dan muttered huskily to the bartender, the driver nodding for the same. they sat in the white noise of static ac/dc and cheap intoxication; the man giving a nod to the tall bartender as their drinks were slid in front of them. "thanks, father," he said, earning a weak nod from the bartender as he skulked away with a newly lit cigarette hanging between his clenched teeth.

dan furrowed together his eyebrows as he turned to the sparkling azure irises and shining grease of grey hair of the driver. "father?" he repeated questioningly, "he's a priest?" the driver exhaled deeply as he brought the musky alcohol to his chapped lips. "yeah, his church ain't doin' too well these days. we got a deal, 'im and i, gives me free drinks 'nd i don't tell nobody." dan slowly nodded, "you're a catholic?"

the man shrugged as he took a swig, "more or less. don't know if it's jus' the want to be important, yanno, or 'f god's actually talkin' to me, don't know why she'd bother though, really. 'nough about me, though. why're ya all teary 'nd shit?"

dan phased his bloodshot gaze back to the bubbles in his drink as he inhaled sharply, "my brother died." the man exhaled a muttered apology, knowing just as well as the brunette that a sorry wouldn't do shit. as the last night singed drops of cheap intoxication dotted his clouded glass he rose hazily to his feet; running his tremulous fingers through his matted fringe as the man didn't bother to make a protest. as his fidgeting fists pressed against the frosted glass door, a wave of wintry weather iced across his stained fingertips and the galaxies that danced upon his glossy irises; sending a current of chills down his wiry spine.

he inhaled the oxygen, letting it stream down his strained throat as the falling snow seemed to frost around his flooded lungs. a sudden buzz radiating from his ripped pocket broke him out of his icy trance, his eyebrows furrowing together as his thumb ran over the name on the screen. he shakily forced down the anxiety closing his throat as he pressed tightly against the answer button. "ade?" he whispered gravelly, the dead boy's name alone causing him to shiver, but the voice sounding from the phone making him freeze deathly-still altogether.

"yeah? what's wrong, dan, you sound upset?"

the brunette's eye twitched as he stayed silent, his chapped lips parting slowly. "a-ade?" he squeaked, before he suddenly felt his reddened cheek slammed against the mud-tinged snow that coated the crackling cement; a splatter of crimson peppering across the dazzling ice as the hazy brunette's vision went black.