Hold On, I'll See You Again

Deck the Plain White Halls Part 1

I've never noticed how similar each day here was until I woke up to find the hospital employees in Santa hats and carrying boxes of decorations. When did I come here? Certainly not recently... Maybe. I was still a little shaken from our Five Nights At Freddy's adventure a few days ago, so Dan and I simply ate breakfast, browsed Tumbler when no one else was in the room, and sat and talked in the courtyard. I received a notification that I need to pay the bills on my house. This disease is terminal. So, making light of the dark situation, I put up an add to sell my house. Pretty cheap for what it's worth, and some of the money will be sent to the electric and water companies. Within a week, it was bought by an old couple. They were moving in in a week, so I had to get back there to get everything out. "Hey, Dan?" I asked him as we sat once again in the lounge area. "Hm?" "When can we go out? I've sold my house since... yea... and I need to get all of my stuff out." "I bet we can ask the front desk person if we can take an outing. I think the only rule is that we can go out 5 times a month." "Cool! Then why did we wait for so long to go out?" "Oh I don't know... Maybe it's because you have a tendency of hurting yourself to the point of required surgery." "Hey! I now know that I shouldn't run! Not that I like exercise anyways." "Ok ok." Dan laughed at my response and got up from his browsing position. "Well, let's go! Besides, now we can get your own clothes." "Yep! But I like wearing your clothes, Dan." "...Well I can't lie that it's not adorable." "Ha. See." He rolled his eyes and pulled me out of the chair and towards the door. We walked to the front desk, and were immediately helped by a woman who looked like she could be our grandma. "Why hello darlings! How may I help you?" Man. She even talks like she's our grandma. "Phil and I were wondering if we could go out today? He's sold his house and we need to move all of his stuff out." "Why sure darlings. Let me just sign you out here, and we'll provide you with a shuttle." "That's not necessary. I have my own car parked outside." "Ok then, sign this paper here, and you'll need to be signed back in by midnight." We both signed the paper, said our thanks, and walked outside. "Wait, Dan! I forgot the keys!"

~Fast forwards to when they reach Phil's house~

It was strange to be pulling into the driveway of my house. Well... It's no longer my house. It's good to be back though! I unlocked the front door, and as soon as we stepped inside, it seemed like no time has passed. There were still some dirty cereal bowls piled in the sink, the couch pillows were scattered all over from when I was panicking about my 5:00pm return to the hospital, and my laptop still sat on the coffee table. I walked around the main floor in a trance. Everything was here, untouched. My life, my memories, my past. All here. Waiting for my return. But there will be no return. Just cleaning out, selling stuff, and doing my last loads of laundry and dishes in this house. I returned to the door area where Dan still stood as tears started falling from my eyes. Dan said nothing as he walked towards me and wrapped me in a tight hug. We stood there for a few minutes, him holding me as I sobbed my beating heart out. I managed to regain composure and retreated from his embrace. "Thanks Dan." "I had to go through the same thing. Don't worry about it." I gently grabbed his hand as I led him around my house, giving him a tour before we got to work.

~Skip to where they finish the tour because it's hard making a house tour interesting.~

"So what do you want to do first, Phil?" "How about we go to my bedroom. That way I can start doing laundry for all of my dirty clothes." We walked back upstairs and into my green and blue room. "Did I tell you that I have the exact same bedspread except in black?" "No way! That's so funny!" I walked over to a chair with my sort of dirty clothes, and grabbed them. After depositing them in the hamper with the other dirty clothes, I carried it downstairs to the laundry room with Dan following behind me. "How about I do the dishes while you start doing the laundry?" "That would be great, thank you." After I started the washing machine, I went into the kitchen where Dan was hand washing the dishes. I made sure not to sneak up on him since I didn't want any broken dishes, and I wrapped my arms around him from behind. "Hey Dan." "Haha. Hey Phil." I nuzzled my face into his shoulder as he continued washing the dishes. Not long after, he had finished. He turned around and scooped me up bridal style and carried me to the couch. "Dan! What are you doing?" He placed me on the couch and climbed on top of me. Straddling me, he moved his face forward until there was no more than an inch of space between our lips. My heart started beating faster as I lay pinned underneath Dan. He closed his eyes and moved his face closer, but when I thought we would kiss, I felt a hand pinch my side right where I'm ticklish. "EEK! Dan!" He kept tickling me as I laughed and pleaded for him to stop. "Never! Phil shall be destroyed by tickles!" After several minutes of sheer torture, Dan rolled off of me and laid down beside me instead. Wrapping an arm around me, we laid there just gazing into each other's eyes. Despite the fact that I was still panting like an obese hippo, it was still wonderful.

After a few minutes of appreciating each other's company, I pulled Dan off of the couch and to my car. "Where are we going?" "I need boxes for packaging stuff." "How about I drive and get them while you organize everything?" "Thanks, Dan!" After running back to the car to tell him to get packaging tape as well, I went up to my room to see what clothes I'd keep, and what I'd give to Goodwill. I then went through my personal possessions. Most of my books will be given away since I've read them so many times, but there was one. Just one book that absolutely had to stay: Winnie the Pooh. That was my first and favorite book. I remember I also had a collection of Winnie the Pooh movies when I was a small child. I'll definitely keep that. After about half an hour, I had cleaned out my room and put what I should keep in some bags. I was going through and tying all of the bags when I heard my cell phone go off. "Hello?" "Phil! It's your mother. How are you doing?" "Good Mom. Well, fine. I guess." "Why? What's wrong?" "Well... My cancer is terminal. I am now in my house cleaning out my stuff. I managed to sell it to a nice old couple who'll move in in a week." I started to silently shed tears as my mom started sobbing over the phone. At this point, Dan comes in carrying a load of boxes and packaging tape. He dropped everything on the floor and ran over to me. Since I was still on the phone, he hugged me silently and stroked my hair as my mom and I cried together. I eventually managed to spit out words and my mom and I continued our conversation. It was hard, but she offered to come right over and help. It would take her a few minutes, so I said sure. We then hung up, and I immediately hugged Dan. "Thank you." "For what? Getting packing tape and boxes? That's no problem." "No. Well, yes. And for being here for me. I honestly... I love you, Dan." I looked up to see tears brimming in his eyes. "Dan! Why are you crying?" "Because that was the sweetest thing anyone's ever said to me, and I love you too, Phil. So much."

A few minutes later, my mom arrived at my house. She tightly embraced me as she sobbed into my shoulder. Dan silently stood beside me, there in case I needed him. After we both calmed down again, my mom let go and noticed Dan for the first time. "Have I met you before?" "No miss. My name's Dan. I'm Phil's boyfriend." "Well nice to meet you, Dan. I think Phil might have told me about you. Definitely good things, though." I blushed as my mom told him that, and Dan chuckled. "Well thank you Mrs. Lester. And might I say, your son is a very kind and attractive person." "Dan!" I said as I swatted his arm. "Haha. Well what can I do to help, Phil?" "Umm, well. I have all the stuff that isn't in bags as stuff I want to donate, so could you box those up for me, please?" "Sure thing." "What about me, Phil?" "Um... Could you empty all of the small trashcans into the trash bin and put them with my mom so she could box them?" "Sure thing." And we got to work. It took all day and a pizza order, but we finally got the house all packed up. "Ok. Phil, I'll drop these off at Goodwill for you, and is that all?" "I think so, yes." "Ok. Will I get to see you again, Phil?" "Of course Mom! I still have time." At that we hugged goodbye and loaded the boxes into her car. After she drove off, Dan and I sat down on my couch one last time. "I must say, this wasn't how I planned our first outing to go, but I think it was fun." "Yea. It was good to clean out my house. It seems like a fresh start almost. And it's fun to see all of your old stuff you've forgotten bout." "I still can't believe you have the entire collection of Free in DVD. We've got to watch that back in our rooms." "Definitely."

We loaded up my stuff into my car, put the house key in the mailbox, and drove off. "Phil, turn here." "Why? That's not the way to the hospital." "I know." I shook my head amusedly as I turned onto a busy road heading away from the hospital. "Turn here. Right. Pull into this parking spot." "We're going to a pub?" "My treat to you, Phil." I parked the car and Dan hurriedly got out and ran to my side, opening the door for me. "Why thank you, dear Daniel." "My pleasure, Phillip." After locking the car, I grabbed Dan's hand as we walked into the pub. After being seated at a table for two, we were left to look at our menus. "Wow. I can't believe you're taking me here, Dan! This place is amazing! I just feel that we're a bit underdressed." "Well considering the circumstances we're in right now, I think this is perfectly fine." We continued skimming over the menu until Dan looked up and visibly paled.