K I D N A P P E D - P H A N A U

Chapter Three

"Hey, hey, it's okay. You don't have to tell me. Whoever 'they' are, they can't hurt you right now. Not while I'm here," Phil said gently, giving the crying boy in front of him a gentle smile. Daniel nodded slightly, but his eyes were vacant.

Suddenly, tears started flowing down his cheeks again.

Oh god, what did I do?! Phil started panicking. He put his hand on Daniel's shoulder, trying to calm him down, but that only made it worse.

Daniel flinched away, curling into a ball and rocking back and forth, now sobbing.

"Daniel, what's wrong?" Phil asked quietly. "Please, tell me...."

Daniel seemed to hesitate. He slowly looked up at Phil, his eyes red and puffy. He sat up, sniffling. He opened his mouth slowly and breathed out, clearly trying to talk. He did it again and managed to make a raspy and croaky noise.

Phil was extremely surprised. "Wh-what are you trying to say?" he asked, trying gently to get Daniel to keep talking. "Please, you can trust me with whatever it is, alright? I won't tell anyone what you said, your secret is safe with me," he murmured.

Daniel shook his head. "N.. N..." he tried, biting his lip and sniffling.

"You can do it, I believe in you," Phil said encouragingly.

"N... No," Daniel managed to choke out, coughing.

"No? What do you mean?" Phil asked gently, looking at Daniel with concern, but his eyes were shining with pride.

"I... c-c-can't t-trust y-you," he murmured, digging his head into his knees, his body shaking so hard it was like he had an earthquake that only he could feel.

Phil was even more surprised. He was proud of Daniel for talking but he also felt... hurt? Why? He barely knew Daniel, of course he wouldn't trust him... "D-Daniel, what do you mean?" he asked quietly, his voice barely over a whisper.

But Daniel was in a state far from being able to speak, or even communicate at all. Phil sighed as he realized this.

"Okay, Daniel, you don't need to say anything else. I'll go get Jackie, alright?" he said, slowly standing and looking at the door.

A hand grasped tightly around his wrist suddenly. He looked down to see Daniel's wide and puffy eyes staring up at him. He quickly shook his head and pulled Phil down to the padded floor gently.

"P-Ple-ease d-don't g-go-oh," Daniel croaked out. He started coughing again, looking like he was going to cough out his lungs.

"Okay, I'll stay here. I'm so proud of you," Phil said gently, wanting nothing more than to give Daniel a hug, but he didn't want to cross any boundaries. He sighed and decided to do it anyway, gently wrapping his arms around Daniel.

Daniel immediately flinched, closing his eyes tightly as tears threatened to flow again. Phil took this as him saying to let go, and so he did, sitting there and looking at the far wall.

Suddenly, Daniel was poking at his pocket, the exact one that held the small notebook. Phil looked confused, but pulled it out anyway, giving it to him along with a pencil.

"C-Can I-I k-keep th-this-s? F-o-or n-now?" Daniel asked. Phil seemed skeptical at first and didn't say anything. "I-I ne-ed to t-tell yo-ou s-someth-th-thing, b-but i-its t-too l-lo-ong to s-say," he explained. Phil nodded.

"Alrigt, Daniel. But, please, don't hurt yourself with it," he said, biting his lip nervously.

Daniel nodded. "I-I p-prom-mise.. A-And, c-call m-me D-Da-an," he said, his croaky voice slowly returning to a normal one. He coughed again, and Phil smiled at him. He smiled back.

•••

"Bye, Dan! I'll be back tomorrow, alright?" Phil asked from the doorway. Dan nodded, waving, a smile present on his face.

Phil closed the white door, looking around the hallway. He ran a hand through his hair, a gigantic smile spreading across his face. He practically ran to Marie's desk, still smiling.

"Marie," he said quickly and excitedly to the woman behind the desk. She looked up at Phil with a confused expression.

"What are you so excited about?" she asked, chuckling.

"Dan isn't mute," he said quickly, his eyes shining with pride.

"You mean Daniel? How do you know?" Marie asked, straightening her posture in surprise.

"Actually, it's Dan. He just told me. Watch the security tapes, I promise you, he was talking!" Phil said, laughing at himself mostly for being this excited over something so trivial.

And with that, the two of them stood behind Marie's desk, watching the security camera for Dan's room. When it got to what was currently happening in his room, they could see him leaning against the wall and writing furiously into the notebook Phil had given him.

"H-How did you get him to talk that much in three days?!" Marie asked, looking shocked. "None of the other doctors have gotten him to even utter a word, let alone full sentences! Phil, this is amazing!" she said, standing up and hugging him tightly. Phil hugged back, laughing.

"I should probably get going, though. I'll talk to you tomorrow, alright?" Phil asked. Marie nodded. He grabbed his coat off of his new desk in the office and walked out of the front door, waving as he passed.

Phil walked down he bustling streets of London, flipping his large and fluffy hood up and over his head. He knew exactly where he wanted to go and exactly what he wanted to get.

He was going to get a lion plushie as a gift for Dan.

He walked into the toystore, feeling extremely out of place being a very tall, grown man in a place made for children. He walked around until he found one that looked exactly like the one he had at his house.

Phil smiled and gently held the plush, walking up to the front desk and placing it there.

"Good afternoon!" the young woman behind the desk said in a cheery voice, looking up at Phil with a smile. He returned it. "Is this all?" He nodded and she put it in a white paper bag.

"Thank you very much. Have a good day!" Phil said, waving as he exited the shop.

He walked down the streets of London with a large smile on his face, completely unaware of the fact that Dan was pouring his life and emotions onto that notebook.