imvu ❥ dan howell

//100//

Dan eventually made it back home to England. That's all Audi knew. There was no speak of a funeral, no idea of where he was buried, no messages or contact from anyone who may have had an idea. Of course it would have been a stretch for Dan's family to have contacted Audi. They probably had no idea who she even was. She once debated whether or not to text his phone to ask for details, but decided not to. She wasn't sure if she could handle it anyways.

She cried everyday for a while, not believing what she knew was going to happen. It was all so real and intense. He had died. He had actually died; he was gone. As for her roommates, they guessed the news the morning after the call. The mood of the entire apartment was gloomy and dark. Quiet and quite depressing as they mourned for their friend.

Now Phil had been back home for a while now, knowing nothing of the situation. But even he had become wary when his small circle of best friends had gone inactive all at once. So when he logged on to see Dan's account online, he smiled a wide smile before clicking onto his profile and sending him a message.

Message to DannyBoi:
Danneh, my boy, it's been a while. Tell me how you have been :)

But when he received the message back, his smile faded.

Message from DannyBoi:
phil, it's audi.

Message to DannyBoi:
What? Why?

Message from DannyBoi:
changing a few details on his profile...

Message to DannyBoi:
How are you on his acc?

Message from DannyBoi:
he gave me his pass a while back...

Message to DannyBoi:
So can you tell him I said hi?

Message from DannyBoi:
phil, check his profile...

After the message was sent, Dan's account went offline and Phil clicked the for the full profile. He always expected Dan's tag line to be something witty and random and Phil claimed it to be the best part of his profile. But instead when his eyes scanned over the new words, he couldn't believe what was real.

Dan's name followed by a heart and two dates. One that he expected was his birth, and the other was only two days ago. His heart fell and cramped into his stomach. He felt like he wanted to vomit.

But then his interest tab had also changed.

Phil had known Dan's interest tab to say: Waudi Audi followed by a heart, but new words followed and he didn't think he would be able to read them. His eyes watered just realizing his friend was dead.

Waudi Audi ♥︎
r.i.p, my beautiful love
I will forever miss you
'tandem in pace'

"Tandem in pace," Phil whispered, putting the pieces of translation into sense. "Finally at peace."

• • •

Audi found herself logging on and off of Dan's account. It seemed every minute a new message from someone she didn't know would pop into his inbox, giving him late goodbyes and praising him for just who he was. It made her sad reading the messages, but happy knowing that he had positively impacted so many people on a platform so simple as imvu. There were messages so lengthy that you would've thought they were related, and messages so short that Audi wondered if he'd known them at all.

As she scrolled, she came upon her own conversation. The bar being marked with the indicator of not being read. Her last message written along the center:

Message to DannyBoi:
If you ever read this, I have something to tell you

She remembers exactly when she sent it, too. It was the same night before he died. It was only around nine when she sent it after a long train of thought. She had hoped so much for a reply so she could tell him the news, but either way she would have left it in a message for him.

The news that she had made up her mind on was that she was in love with him. She was truly in love with the boy. She loved everything about him despite his mistakes and imperfections. No matter when he was falling apart in her hands, he was special to her. There was nobody in the world that she thought she could say those words for and mean them. He was a one-in-a-kind boy.

The more that she thought about his death, the more she started to change her views. Of course the situation would always be tragic and sad, but she knew that wherever he was now, he wasn't hurting. He was new and beautiful in his new place. A perfect silhouette for his perfect personality.

"One day," she whispered to herself as she flipped the familiar photostrip in her fingers. Coffee played softly in the background and she couldn't care less about the memories laced into the singer's voice. "One day."

She knew one day she would be with him, and that the day would be long lasting and last forever. There wouldn't be a last time to see him. Maybe in this world, but the next was impossible to tell.

So this wasn't the end of DannyBoi, Dan, Daniel Howell... this was only the next step. For now he wasn't struggling for a breath and heaving in distress. He was good and renewed. He was finally happy with himself.

Tandem in pace.

Fin