sentient // phan

http//: 22

Dan couldn't stop pacing. He had awoken to Phil's bed empty, his ring on the bedside cabinet and himself far away. Dan tried calling him a hundred times but eventually just went to voicemail, Phil presumably having turned it off. Dan still called, leaving a voicemail about how sorry he was and how much he hoped Phil would forgive him.

It's all because of that stupid chip. Dan thought. It had arrived at the worst time, when Dan had just realised he wasn't dealing with any old robot. When Dan realised he may have actual feelings for the personality within the beautiful shell, when Phil said he loved him and Dan realised he had to turn off that fifth and let Phil fall in love with him naturally.

He tore the chip from the box and threw it against the wall as hard as he could, the satisfying shatter not releasing  any of the anger as he hoped it would. He folded to the ground, sobbing so hard it hurt his stomach. He loved Phil. He loved him so badly that he wanted to tear his heart out, and he had ruined it by being selfish. He had wanted Phil to pleasure him so he had implanted false trust in him, pretending that the love he felt for Dan was real. But when the moment came, when Phil finally told him, Dan knew it was wrong.

He had to fix this. But how?

Before he could think of anything, he heard a loud knocking on the front door. He closed his eyes tight.

"Not now!" He shouted, his voice coming out a strangled sob. It was the middle of the night. Who'd be coming for him at this hour?

Maybe it was Phil. Oh gosh it probably is.

Dan hurriedly got up, and, with a glance at himself in the mirror, taking in his puffy red eyes and mussed fringe, he flung open the door.

"Phil-" he started, but then stopped. The man standing in the doorway was not Phil.

"Good morning, Dan." Chris' smile, wide as always, was looking especially sinister in the low light of the soft light cast by the floating lamps outside.

"Can I help you?" Dan sniffed, straightening up, trying to pretend he hadn't just been crying. "At-" he checked his watch, "one AM?" Chris grinned his crocodile smile, tilting his head slightly.

"I'm checking on you and Phil. It's been three months since you bought him. And I understand you've recently received your new personality chip?" Dan leaned in the doorway, crossing his arms, eyebrows raised in skepticism.

"Yeah." He replied simply, waiting for Chris to go on. "And this had to happen in the middle of the night because..?"

"Can I come in?" Chris cocked his head the other way, eyes shining with some scheme or another. Dan shook his head.

"Actually, Phil's charging, so I'd appreciate it if you didn't wake him-"

"It'll only take a moment." And Chris pushed past Dan, who scoffed, devastation momentarily forgotten with the annoyance of the intruder.

"Who the hell do you think you-" Dan started, but Chris rounded on him, smile gone as though it had never been there.

"He's not here."

"He's out."

"You told me he was here."

"It's not illegal to lie." Chris pushed past Dan again, who stumbled into the wall. He rubbed his arm.

"Get the fuck out of my house." Dan called to him, pointing to his door. But Chris made no motion to leave, in fact, he sat on the couch and pulled his tablet from the satchel on his hip, turning it on and tapping furiously. "Don't make me call the police on you." Chris ignored him further, and Dan crossed his arms. Finally, after seeing something on the shifting map that made Chris grumble, he looked up at Dan.

"How did he meet them?" He hissed.

"Who?" Dan snapped back, slowly reaching into his pocket for his earpiece.

"Don't play coy, Howell. I can deactivate him right now and you'll never see him again."

"You can't scare me."

"Try me." Chris' finger hovered over a bright red button on his tablet's display. Dan froze.

"I really don't know what you're talking about." He whispered, eyes filling with tears at the sight of Chris' finger shaking, centemetres above the flashing switch.

Quick as lightening Chris pulled another thing out of his satchel. A gun.

He shot Dan, the BB hitting him sharply in the chest. He fell to the ground with a gasp, clutching his stomach.

"Don't worry, Dan," Chris said, rising. "It won't kill you. Only keep you paralysed until I decide to turn it off." Dan's lungs felt like they were caving in. His vision was blackening with pain. He moaned.

"Now, here's what you're going to do. You're going to call him and get him to come here. And you're not going to let him outside ever again. You're not going to speak to him about this. You're not going to tell anyone about this. He is never, ever allowed outside, ever again. Blink twice if you understand." Dan blinked quickly, his heart racing. Chris brought his gun in front of his eyes, twisting a dial. Dan felt his mouth open.

"He won't answer." He gasped. "He hasn't been responding."

"Oh, he will. He will if he wants you to survive." Chris pressed the earpiece to Dan's ear, and it began to ring.

"If I do this you have to promise not to hurt him." Dan whispered. Chris grinned, dragging a finger across his chest twice.

"Cross my heart."