The Darkest Of Days

Chapter 21

Natasha was pacing along the station platform impatiently, waiting for her friends train to come in, frustrated as it was already over ten minutes late. With a sigh, she went to go sit down at the bench near the wall, when she noticed a stuffed animal that was left behind. She felt her heart drop in her chest as she recognized what it was.

It was AmazingPhil's stuffed lion.

With shaking hands, she reached down to pick him up and noticed a rolled up piece of paper tied around his neck. Careful not to tear it, she untied and read it, feeling her heart freeze over in the process. In Dan’s own messy handwriting she read:

“To whomever found this, hey.

This is Lion, my brother's best friend. I can't look after him anymore, so could you do me a favor? Take care of him for me? Phil would really appreciate it, I'm sure. He was really special to Phil, so please take good care of him and treat him well. I'll be forever grateful if you do. I made a terrible mistake months ago and now, because of that, Phil's gone forever. And I can't do this alone. I hope you give him a good home.

Also, if you could do me another favour, there’s a small tear on his left back leg from a day where Phil and I were arguing and I called him childish and threw Lion and there was a stray nail from an old poster stuck in the wall that he got caught on. Its just big enough to hide an SD card in it. On the SD card, you’ll find a picture of my YouTube log in information and a prepared video. Would you be willing to upload it for me? I’m no longer able to as I’ve gone to be with Phil.

Thank you,

Daniel.”

Tearfully Natasha folded up the note and went to check Lions leg to find the SD card when her friend showed up. All that Dan had asked for would have to wait.

~~

A few hours later sees her waving her friend goodbye and then hurrying to get home.

When she got through her front door, she ran to her room and pulled out her laptop, inserting the SD card.

Hands trembled as she clicked play on the video. She wanted to make sure that this wasn’t a cruel joke, although she was sure it wasn’t. Immediately, Dan’s face flashed up on her screen. You could tell he’d been crying for hours and still hadn’t stopped. Seeing him like this broke her heart. Suddenly she understood how much Phil truly meant to him. She thought of her friend. She meant the absolute world to her. She shuddered at the thought of losing her and understood why Dan did what he did.

The final words of the video echoed through her room as it finished uploading to his channel

“-said that I’d be able to do it, but I can’t…

Goodbye Internet”