THE PHANTOM

Chapter 6

Dan's Part: Bold
Phil's part: Italic

I see Phil fall asleep, but at this point I don't want to. The sound of thunder keeps me up and I'm too worried about the phantom coming back. 

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In my dream, I see nothing, just black. This isn't like my usual dream. I start walking, but nothing happens, it stays the same. I hear a noise, and I turn, but before I can see what it is, I get ripped to shreds. I shoot up, screaming in a cold sweat. I look around, and start to cry. 

Phil startles me as I'm laying on my back having an existential crisis because I can't sleep. "What's wrong Phil?" I hug him, letting him cry into my shirt. 

"i-its was horrible!" I say, trying to calm myself down. When I finally do, I look at Dan and say, "I heard something in my dream, and when I turned around, it killed me, ripped me to shreds." I say, starting to cry again. 

I comfort him for a moment, and then it hits me. "The Phantom." I mumble. "Phil, lemme see your arms." I say, letting go of our hug as we both sit opposite of each other on my bed, our legs in criss-cross position. 

I show him my arms, even though I don't see anything. 

I turn his arms, looking them up and down. There are scratches everywhere, literally. "Do you see any of these?" I ask him, looking him in the eyes. 

I shake my head slowly, frowning a bit. 

I go to get my phone to take a picture, but when the camera goes over it, nothing is there on the screen. I move my phone and look at it with my eyes, and they're all there. Then it occurs to me. Since it's my phantom, and it's in my head, I'm the only one who can see it and see the marks it makes. 

I sigh. "I'm sorry this is happening. Is there anywhere else these phantom scratches might be?" I ask

I think for a moment. "Take your shirt off... wait that sounded weird." I say, thinking these scratches may be on his back and stomach, and possibly his chest too. He takes off his shirt anyway, and I see them all over his chest and stomach. They're very long, going across his body in diagonal lines from the top of his chest to his waist. "Turn around." I tell him, wanting to see if they're on his back too. 

I start to worry about Dan, because he's getting pretty freaked out, but I turn around anyways. 

Phil turns, and there they are. The scratches. These ones are in diagonal lines too, but there's less of them, and they're smaller. "What could this mean?" I mumble to myself. I think for a moment, and tell Phil he can turn back around and put his shirt back on. If I tell anyone, they'll think I'm insane since i'm the only one who sees these.

"do you think everything's going to be ok?" I ask, concerned. 

"I-I don't know, Phil." I start. "Honestly." I say, as we both lay back down. I glance at the time on my phone. 6:17 AM. I try to sleep, at least for a few hours. As I close my eyes, I see the phantom ripping Phil apart, just as he described. I saw his dream! This was crazy. I woke up, startled by seeing Phil's dream, and looked at the time. 7:18 AM. I turn over, trying to sleep again, and this time my phantom comes for me. This time, instead of feeling a suffering feeling, in the dream I open my arms and say, "Just come for me. Get it over with." What the hell? I wasn't controlling myself. It didn't make sense. 

I hear Dan mumble something. I scoot closer to him, and shake him a little. "Dan, wake up. You're having a bad dream again." but when he doesn't wake, I start to get worried. "Wake up Dan!" I say a bit louder. 

I hear Phil's voice telling me to wake up, but I can't control my body. The phantom sneaks up behind me, attacking me. I want to cry out, but my 'non-self' just lets it happen, almost as if I'm giving up. 

"Dan!" I say, I don't want to, but I slap him, hard. It's one of the ways TV has taught me to wake someone up. 

I feel Phil slap me really hard, and I feel the pain. But I still can't control anything, and the phantom is sucking all the life out of my 'non-self'. I desperately want to do anything; cry out, shout, run, wake up, anything. It's as if I'm watching myself being killed by the phantom, even though I'm still alive in real life. 

I cringe, "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry." I say over and over again. I feel really bad now. "What will you do to release him you demon?!" I yell, trying to get the phantoms attention so Dan can wake up. 

Phil is yelling at the phantom, and I watch my body get destroyed by the phantom, disintegrating into dust. I wake up as soon as my body turns to dust. 

I start crying and hug Dan. "I thought you wouldn't wake up this time. I don't know what I wouldn't done without you." I say, hugging him tight. 

I cry too. "I couldn't control my body. I watched my body turn to dust." I say in the sobbing. "I thought I was going to die!" I practically shout.

"I won't let that happen." I say, hugging him tighter. 

I check the time. 11:56 AM. I get up, opening the blinds and the sun shines through. "Maybe I just need to get out of the house." I say, grabbing clothes to shower. "We need to get stuff at the shop anyway... I'm gonna go shower." I tell Phil, leaving the room with my clothes. 

"okay, I'm gonna stay in here until you get out so I can shower next." I say, grabbing one of Dan's pillows and cuddling it. 

I get in the shower, realizing how long it's been since I've actually showered. I take my time, enjoying the warm water and the feeling of clean hair. 

I hug Dan's pillow closer, enjoying the smell of it. It's almost like he's right in the bed with me, and I smile. "I love him so much."