How Did We End Up Here? - A Phanfiction

Chapter Two

Phil's head was spinning. This couldn't be happening. He rounded the corner, Dan on his heels, and stopped dead in his tracks. Dan almost crashed into him as he took in the scene. Several police cars were scattered around the street, along with a firetruck and an ambulance. All of these were surrounding a truck that was on its side and a small sedan that was almost definitely totalled, the hood completely crushed in and the windshield broken. People were gathered around the scene, watching. They were only half a block from the grocery store. Dan pushed past Phil who had stopped, making his way into the fray.

"No, Dan, you can't just..." Phil tried to stop him.

"It's Alice." Dan turned his head briefly to snap, his eyes dark. He turned back around, and continued pressing into the scene, until he was inevitably stopped by a policeman. Phil watched this scene unfold as he saw a stretcher being lifted into the ambulance. Most of it was cut off from Phil's sightline by different vehicles, but he was able to make out beautiful, long black hair and a pale face.

No. No this was NOT happening. Not today. All of a sudden, it was as if Phil was underwater. The sounds around him went from piercing to muted, as his heartbeat pounded in his ears. He began feeling a bit dizzy, and everything seemed to be moving both in a blur, yet in slow motion as well. Phil watched as Dan talked to the policeman, who seemed annoyed at first, but then his expression shifted quickly to sympathetic, as he put a hand on Dan's shoulder, Dan recoiling from the touch. Phil watched as Dan turned back towards him, not looking up from his feet as he made his way back. Phil watched as Dan walked right past him, hitting Phil slightly with his shoulder on the way past. Phil tried to break out of his daze, but was unable to, simply feeling as if he was floating after Dan, following his flatmate in the direction they had come.

Phil watched as Dan pulled Michelle out of her apartment, where a colorful banner hung in the doorway reading 'IT'S A GIRL!'. He watched as Dan spoke to Michelle, and he saw the tears begin flowing from the girl's eyes. He watched as Dan hailed a taxi, and felt himself float alongside them into the back of the cab. He watched as they drove to the hospital, and watched as Michelle sobbed, following the doctors who led her to Alice's room, leaving Dan and Phil to sit in the waiting room.

Now that he was here, the feeling of disassociation became even stronger. The last time he had been here was way back in 2012. With Dan. With Alice. Phil sunk into a chair in a daze, and watched as Dan's body begin shaking with tears. He knew he should be comforting his friend. He should be feeling something. But he couldn't feel anything, and he couldn't move. He couldn't make any sound, so he just sat there, staring forward.

Time passed. Phil didn't know how much. He knew that at one point Dan got up. He didn't know how long his friend was gone, but he noticed when Dan returned. He tried to say something, but his body didn't comply. He sat.

Eventually Phil noticed a new set of fluorescent lights click on, and he realized it must be getting late, and getting dark outside. He stared forward. Time passed.

Eventually, Phil watched as Michelle returned to the waiting room, escorted by a woman in scrubs. Michelle was looking down, her eyes glazed over in a way that Phil understood at the moment. She looked up after a while with a blank expression on her face, tears streaking down to her chin, and every bit of life - every bit of energy, of spunk, of wildness was gone, and she was empty.

Phil felt himself standing, felt Dan standing next to him. They followed her back to a room, and Phil watched as Dan held Alice's lifeless hand, crying into it, holding it up to his forehead. His friend looked so small, crying there, knelt next to this small bed. He watched as Michelle made her way to the other side of the bed, and slowly closed the eyes that had been left staring up at the ceiling, glassed over in death. Phil watched as Michelle knelt over the girl on the bed, tears falling on the pale flesh beneath her, planting one final kiss on the girl's temple. One final goodbye. Phil felt himself moving up to Michelle's side, felt himself putting his arm around her as he took the dead girl's hand in his own, and squeezed one last farewell. Phil felt himself lead Michelle out of the room, and then stood in the hallway, eyes wide, waiting for Dan who rejoined them moments later. He felt them make their way back out of the hospital, his arm still around the pregnant woman.

He watched his friends get into a cab, and joined them, and he watched as Michelle got out with them at their flat. He felt himself help her up the stairs, slowly, as her belly wouldn't allow for this to be done quickly. He saw Dan make his way to the couch, beginning to rock back and forth, staring at the wall. He saw himself setting her up in his bed, and felt himself lay on top of the covers next to her, putting his arm on her shoulder as she lay facing away from him, sobbing lightly until sleep took over.

He didn't sleep. He didn't cry. He watched the ceiling.

Time passed.