"Phil?"

four

I finish dinner and walk back up to my room, wanting nothing more than to speak to Phil. My parents kept talking to me, asking what happened to make me imagine such a "character," and I keep trying to tell him that he's real. That he was the reason I hadn't taken any of those pills that night, that he was the reason I was beginning to stop harming myself, that he was why I'd been feeling actual emotions again. But I kept my mouth shut.

If Phil didn't exist, how come his arms wrapped around my torso when I was bawling felt so real? Why could I feel his breath on my ear when he was telling me everything was okay?

Why was I falling in love with him?

They didn't understand. They thought I was crazy. My parents had excuse themselves from the table early. I overheard them in the other room.

"We have to send him somewhere to get help, he can't keep living like this. Imaginary friends are something you have when you're 6, not 18!" my father almost yelled, quite angrily.

That was all I could think about as I trudged up the stairs. I lied down on my bed, hoping Phil would be there the next time I opened my eyes.

And sure enough, he was at my window when I woke up at 1:37am, tapping to see if I was awake. I opened it, inviting him in.

We talked a bit, him telling me about his life back at home, how not much was improving. His mum was still sick in the hospital, his dad still a drunk mess, him working to keep his siblings fed.

Meanwhile, I talked about how my parents wanted to send me away, how they thought I was crazy for talking to him. I started crying again, lying down and burying my head into one of my pillows. Phil nudged closer and started to rub my arms and back. He eventually laid down behind me, draping an arm around my waist.

I calmed down a bit, steadying my breathing to match his. As I began drifting off to sleep, eight little words spilled out of my mouth, so quiet that I could barely hear them myself:

"I think I'm falling in love with you."

I heard a mumbled response from him, but couldn't quite make out the words, so I just fell asleep.

-------------------------------------------
Woah, look at that, shit chapter..... AGAIN.

Sorry it took so long to update guys, I ended up getting sick over Christmas break, then we had a bit of "end of semester homework" stuff last week, I was doing wedding stuff with my sister this past weekend, and I ended up being sick again today.

Hopefully updating should be a little more on track now that semester is ending this week.