Aftershocks ➳ Philkas/Eyewitness

02

Episode Two: Black Umbrellas

Dark clouds plague the sky and deprive the world of sunshine, turning everything dull and grey. The crisp wind shakes the skeletal trees and twirls fallen leaves through the air. A steady drizzle of rain falls to the earth and quenches the dry grass. Philip has never been very religious, but for a moment he wonders if God is crying for his mother.

Philip stands in front of his mirror in a black suit and tie, tightening the knot with nimble fingers. His reflection stares back at him with pale skin and chapped lips and dark circles beneath his tired eyes. He barely recognizes himself. His wavy hair is messy and uncombed, but he doesn't have the strength to bother fixing it.

Nothing feels right. His shoes are too tight, his trousers are a bit too long, and his mom is dead.

She's dead, Philip.

The panic starts to creep into his brain again, spreading like a deadly disease. His heart beats faster and louder. The ache in his stomach intensifies. He closes his eyes and counts backwards from ten in an attempt to calm himself down. Growing up with an addict as a mother, he learned coping mechanisms at an early age.

He just needs to focus on something else. Anything else. He listens to the sound of the rain hitting the shingles.

Drip, drop, drip.

As a kid, Philip loved the rain. He liked to walk down the pothole-filled streets of the slums and splash through the fresh puddles. He loved the scent that always followed a rainstorm, fresh and clean, masking the rotten stench of the city.

His mother hated the rain. Their roof always had leaks, so she'd have to put buckets beneath the holes to catch the water. She hated driving in the rain the most. She hated the way the streets became glossy and reflective and how her tires skidded across puddles whenever she drove too fast.

Rain in Tivoli is vastly different than rain in the city. In Tivoli, Philip can see everything; there aren't any skyscrapers or smog to block his view. He can see the clouds rolling in, the droplets creating ripples in the lake's surface, and the dirt roads turning into mud.

A lot of things are different in Tivoli.

Philip sighs and rubs his temples, trying to soothe sudden migraine. He sits at the edge of his bed with his head in his hands. He repeatedly closes his eyes and opens them again, hoping that he'll suddenly wake up and this will have all been a dream— a nightmare, rather.

"Philip?"

He looks up to see Gabe standing in his doorway. He's wearing a black suit, which is weird, Philip thinks. He's become accustomed to seeing him in jeans and t-shirts. He even shaved his stubble and put on proper dress shoes instead of his favorite cowboy boots.

There's a sympathetic frown on his face. "Are you almost ready, Son?"

Philip nods. "Yeah, I— I guess so."

Gabe leans against the doorframe and sighs quietly. He watches as Philip picks at his nails absentmindedly, brown eyes glistening. Nowadays, it's hard for him to remember when Philip wasn't on the verge of tears.

"Is Lukas coming?" he ponders out loud.

"Yeah," Philip gulps. "He's meeting us there. Bo's driving him since he can't ride his bike yet."