Mental

Chapter Thirty-Two|Hallelujah

Phil

Phil didn't know what Dan was doing, or when he was going to see him, or even if he was going to see him again, and he was terrified. He sat in his room shaking and falling in out of consciousness. It wasn't sleep, but more like losing your grip on reality for a while.

Sometimes he'd fall back from one of the trips and into a panic attack. Patient 19: Phillip Lester is showing an alarming increase in anxiety levels: see chart page 8. He's stuck in a cycle of not knowing and worrying, and suffering for it.

He hears the nurses talking about him. Linda had recently been moved to another section because when she tried to help Phil he'd start to lash out at her and yell. Greta took in for her.

Greta was more curvy than nurse Linda. She had a round, pretty face, and cute freckles. It was true that Greta was on the lazier side of the nurses, but she most definitely wasn't a bad one. She was just a lot less strict. If Phil asked, Greta would tell him how Evan was doing. Phil liked her.

But he could like her for no longer than a couple minutes before his worried thoughts would flood him, and he'd drift away from everyone. Evan tried to make him smile, and Phil only did because he knew Evan was trying as hard as could when he could barely do it himself.

Phil was falling apart.

***

Today, was diffrent than the last four days. Today, someone that wasn't Greta or Evan entered his room with a grim expression on their older looking features.

"Phil Lester?" The mysterious man asked.

Phil turned to him, and nodded nonchalantly. What could this possibly be about?

"You are advised by the court of law to come with me without any struggle, or acting out. Any sort of 'funny business', as I've heard you were known for, will result in a punishment."

Maybe they were expecting him to scream out, and fight them all, or say some snide comment, but he didn't. He nodded again and let them put restraints on his wrists; probably because he was to unstable to trust.

"Kinky," he said blankly. A bit of his old self poking through, but no sly smirk or mischievous light in his eyes.

The man and the two little police officers he had in tow seemed to scoff, but one of them chuckled a bit.

They took him outside where he squinted against the morning sun. He hadn't been outside in a while. They pushed him into a black car, and from that moment on Phil stared out of the window daydreaming of Dan.

Phil only ever had bad memories at a courthouse. Last time he was here he was called crazy and stuck inside of Cynthia Hall nine years ago. Was it almost ten? Phil hadn't seen the date in so long.

They walked him up the steps, his heart beating so fast it was dangerous. Why was he here? What was going to happen? Every step increased the anxiety in his chest.

He gulped at the gigantic doors that led inside. Well, actually maybe they weren't that big, but he felt like they were. And they were walking through some sort of clean hallway, and down another one, and another, until he faced some simple wood doors probably leading into the court room.

He kept his eyes down trying to calm himself. His heart still beating like a drum. They opened the door, and he heard crying and voices. Something twitched in his stomach and he knew he needed to look up. Like a sense.

I know the sound of your heart.

His eyes met with Dan's and all of the anxiety bubbling in his chest dispersed as if it never existed. The hurt of thinking he'd never see him again went away, and he felt as if he could breathe.