The Darkest Of Days

Chapter 19

The day of the funeral came and Dan didn’t go. How could he? It was his fault Phil did this.

His phone rang for the sixth time today. He knew, without looking, that it was Phil’s mum asking where he was. He couldn’t handle answering it. She must hate him over this. He just let it ring as he sat on the floor, knees tucked up to his chest and sobbing into his arms.

He was so stupid. How did this happen?

He heard knocking at his door, but again, he left them knocking. After a few minutes, the knocking stopped and Dan thought he was safe, letting out a loud sob.

Dan was wailing when he suddenly felt warm arms wrap around him and pull him into a hug.
“Daniel, dear? Breathe honey, it’ll be ok.” The voice came clear and strong, despite the sadness in it. “cry it out Hun.”

Dan sniffed and looked up into Phil Lester’s eyes. Only they weren’t his…

“We missed you at the funeral today.” Katherine said softly. “You know no one blames you for what happened, right?”

Dan looked at her with shock in his eyes before realizing “Of course. Phil would have told you everything. How can you not blame me? I’m the one that caused everything that lead to this. If I hadn’t left, we’d still be happy…”

Katherine sighed and held him tighter. “You know that’s not true. You were miserable. You did what you felt you had to. It would have been your funeral we were going to instead. You did the human thing and tried to do what was best for you. I’ll miss Phil so much you have no...” her voice broke and she paused before continuing on with tears sounding in her voice, “You have no idea how much this hurt me, but putting the blame on you is NOT what Phil would have wanted. He knew why you were doing this. He never blamed you for this and neither will I. We’re family after all.” She gave him one last hug, “I have to leave. You know you can still call me anytime.” She kissed his forehead and silently left the room, leaving Dan with what she said.