alone『 kickthestickz + phan au 』

15

A couple days later, Daniel's day came. It was sunny, the sky was lit with the saffron sun and the clouds milled around, making shapes of ducks and smiley faces and leaves.
The three boys were sitting, rather illegally, on the roof of the apartments again staring up at these clouds and pondering.
'Dan,' PJ said, turning to face him, 'why haven't we been back to your place yet?'
Dan's muscles tensed and he stayed completely silent, staring up at a cloud he couldn't quite determine the shape of.
'Dan?' Chris questioned.
'I just don't want to go there, ok?' he snapped, stopping the other two in their tracks.

Christopher was relatively worried by this, wondering why his friend refused to go back to his home and what made him lash out like that. The boys sat silently, awkward side glances being shared.
'Why not?' came PJ's calm voice.
Hearing his friends tranquil tone relaxed Dan a little and he replied, less agitated this time.
'Reminds me too much of-' he hesitated, 'him.'
Chris reached out and grabbed the sad boy's hand, looking into his eyes comfortingly.
'How about we go back there, all three of us? We'll clean it up a little bit: maybe repaint the walls or just change the sheets. Whatever you're comfortable with. We need to fix this, though. You can't stay terrified of walking through that doorway, that's not what he'd want you to be. Plus, I need to repay you for helping me out with the bathroom.'
Dan didn't reply with words, just nodded cautiously while staring at his hand wrapped around the other boy's.

PJ and company arrived at the stark white door to the apartment complex and Dan timidly handed him the key. They walked in, pushing some of the newsletters that had been posted through the letterbox out of their way. They walked up the stairs to Daniel's floor, noticing how quiet and eerie the corridors and other flats looked. They arrived at the door and Dan handed over the second key. The door was opened to reveal the dark, desolate and incredibly blue apartment. The rooms looked exactly like they had before; the paint was peeling off the walls and the furniture looked colourless. The tiles of the bathroom were grimy and cracking while the windows were equally as broken and imprisoning. It was simply sad to look at.
'Dan, why do you like blue so much?' PJ asked as he finished tying up a full trash bag that should have been taken out a few weeks prior.
'Phil,' was Dan's simple reply.
'Why did you only make half of the bed?' Chris asked, staring at the entity of the bedroom in disbelief of its contrast of being incredibly neat on one side but not the other.
'Phil,' Dan reiterated.