We are the ghouls of London // PHAN

•CHAPTER FORTY•

I'm getting braces tomorrow 😫
yay  (note the sarcasm)

•••

Helping unpack Adrian's things, the door opened and his mom appeared, "Look who you almost forgot in the car Adrian!"

Looking towards his mom, Adrian gasped, "MR ROAR!" He bounded over and once he had him in his arms, squeezed him tightly in a hug, "Never run away from me again!"

"More like don't leave him," His mom spoke with amusement, "That boy, Ph-Philbert?"

"Phil," Dan corrected with a roll of his eyes, "His name is Phil."

"Yeah, Phil. Well he brought Mr Roar to me since you, being a forgetful thing, forgot him in the car." His mom shook her head, "Anyway. The main reason I am up here is to ask what you want for tea..."

"Sunday dinner with lots of gravy!" Adrian said, jumping up and down.

"Err..." his mom looked to the floor, as if she was embarrassed, "We don't have that Adrian. I'm sorry."

Adrian stopped jumping up and down, "But Lee would cook us that."

"I'm not Lee though Adrian. I can't afford Sunday dinner..."

Adrian groaned, "But mum! I want Sunday Dinner!"

"He'll have his usual baked beans and mash, mum," Dan spoke as he grabbed his own bag from the side of the room, "I'm not hungry though so you don't need to make me any."

Dan tried to leave the room with the bag over his shoulder, but his mom grabbed his wrist, stopping him in his tracks, "Dan I have to cook you something. You'll starve."

"I'm fine mum..."

She gasped, letting go of his wrist to bring that hand up to her mouth, "You're... you're not... a-anorexic are you?"

Dan stared at his mom for a second, wide eyes, "WHAT?!"

"Oh my god Dan! You're anorexic! My poor baby!" She ran forward to go hug him but Dan pushed her away quickly.

"Mum! I'm not fucking anorexic! I'm just not hungry."

His mom sighed, "Dan..."

"You know what? Why don't I cook tea and you and Adrian sit down and watch one of his new movies together?" Dan questioned, wanting to move onto another subject.

"New movie...?"

"Lee got me some new movies to watch!" Adrian jumped up and grabbed the plastic bag and gave it to his mom, "See?"

Their mom nodded, "Lee did an awful lot for you two didn't he?"

"More for Adrian but yeah." Dan folded his arms.

She nodded, "Right... right. Shall we watch one Adrian?"

He nodded wildly and grabbed Mr Roar again, "LET'S GO!"

After throwing his bag into his scruffy room, Dan followed his over excitable brother and mother down the staircase. The stairs were still littered with junk and mess so Dan was extra careful not to trip on any of it. Surprisingly, the living room had been cleared of all bottles which Dan thought would be scattered everywhere and there was no signs of any tissues lying on the floor.

"I tided up before you came back," Dan's mom admitted as she watched Adrian pick a DVD and put it into the DVD player with ease, "After the battery of the landline died, I guessed you would come back... I had to pick myself up and clear up. I knew how you would act to me to try and get myself to be myself so rather my own son do it, I have to learn to do it by myself."

Dan nodded, "I'll start tea."

He walked into the kitchen and glanced around. His mom may have cleaned up the living room, but here in the kitchen, it looked like a war had broken out. Dirty plates piled up on the drainer; the bin full to the brim and beginning to smell; and don't even mention the fridge which once Dan opened, he could never recover from its unbearable stench.

"Mom? When was the last time you cleaned in here?" Dan called out.

"Couple of days ago!" She replied back.

Dan knew what she was saying was utter bullshit, but didn't respond. Instead, he washed up all the bowls, pulled the bin bag out of the bin and tied a knot at the top to take it to the wheelie-bin outside after he had cooked tea for his mom and brother, and cleared out the fridge into yet another bag. He opened the cupboard above the sink and got two tins out of it; mash potato and baked beans. They were the cheapest tins in the store so they were a regular buy.

He poured the beans and the potato into two plastic boxes and put the mashed potato in the microwave for two minutes. Whilst they heated, he grabbed two plates, a cup, a mug and turned the kettle on. Making coffee for his mom and orange juice for his brother, he also served up the food onto the plates before putting these plates onto two separate trays with their drinks and cutlery, and the tomato ketchup bottle for Adrian.

He took both trays out to his mom and brother who were sitting on the couch now watching Moana. He handed them both the trays and they got straight to eating, not even thanking Dan for all the hard work he had done whilst he had been in the kitchen.

"You're welcome," Dan grumbled as he left the room.

He looked at the black bags in the corner of the room and picked them up in either one of his hands. Moving them through the hallway and out the front door, he took them out and dropped them into the black wheelie bin outside. After closing the lid, he sighed out loud.

The cold air felt nice against his back now he was outside. He turned around and leant against the bricks of the house. The stars were not visible in the sky due to Londons light pollution but never the less, Dan enjoyed watching visible particles fall through the light of the street lamps and sighed once again and closed his eyes, feeling relaxed in the atmosphere.

Dan didn't know where his sudden urge for food came from. He suddenly felt desperate to devour and eat a person. He guessed after cooking the food his family was now eating, his body now craved for blood to fill him up to.

10.45pm. Was it really 10.45 already? He slid his phone back into the back pocket of his tracksuit bottoms and walked back into the house. He climbed up the stairs and got changed into a black t-shirt, black hoodie, black jeans and black shoes. It would keep him un-noticed and besides, he didn't want to ruin Phil's t-shirt so he folded that neatly and put it in his t-shirt draw where it really did stand out from the rest of his t-shirts. Nevertheless, Dan put his phone in his back pocket and took his ghoul mask which he had still in his suitcase from when he left Phil's.

"I'm going out," Dan declared as he got to the bottom of the stairs. His mom looked at him, confused.

"Out?"

"Yeah, out. I need some fresh air. Clear my mind."

Turning away, his mom nodded, "Ok. Be safe."

Not even a goodbye. After all Dan had done for his mom in pretty much the last hour, you'd think his mom would have been a bit more reluctant about him going out at such a late time. But it was his mom so what did he really expect?

For her to actually care?

He left the house and slammed the door closed, just to show how annoyed he was. Wether his mom would get the message was a totally different story however, since she never really paid attention to anything except cartoon movies by Disney companies.

Dan had never really been hunting on his own. He always had Connor with him, and Termika when she was alive. He could call Connor... or Thomas... or even Indigo for that matter since the cafe would be long closed by now. But maybe it was time for Dan to experience hunting on his own for once? It could do him good.

What was the best place to go hunting on his own? Didn't Termika mention suicide bridge was a good place to go on your own? The people at the bottom would be already dead so that would save him some energy since he wouldn't need to attack them. Maybe that was Dan's best bet?