My Guardian, Phil // P.L

Part 13

"Aren't you scared of dying?"

"Aren't you?"

"I'm terrified."

I don't even remember falling asleep, but apparently I did. I'm opening my eyes slowly, wondering what's going on. Phil is stood over me, shaking my shoulders gently, but enough to wake me up. As my vision adjusts, I can see that he is fully dressed, as if he's about to leave and as I focus on his face, his expression sends chills down my body. He looks scared. Frantic.

"Samantha! Wake up!" He says.

I rub my eyes and sit up. The pizza box which was sitting on my tummy topples off onto the floor but it's empty. "What? Phil? What time is it?"

"It's Darby's! There's a fire! She's in massive trouble!" Phil says as he rushes about, picking up my shoes and passing them to me. "We have to go help her!"

"A fire? What? What's going on?" I ask, suddenly panicked.

"There's no time to explain, get your shoes on, we need to go!" Phil says.

I quickly put my shoes on and Phil grabs my hand and pulls me out of the house. He's running, pulling me behind but in my tired state, I struggle to keep up.

Phil stops for a moment and picks me up. I wrap my arms and legs around him like a koala clinging to a tree and Phil continues to run as fast as he was before, though with a little difficulty. We make it to Darby's in record time and a thick, sickly scent of smoke fills my nose. I push Phil away and look about.

There it is. Darby's. Up in flames.

The building has smoke rolling out of the upstairs windows and flames lick the air like serpent tongues as they light up the night sky. There are fire trucks on the front, a team of firefighters putting out the fire with a hose. There's a huge crowd of people looking in and I catch sight of Darby and Max, staring into the burning building. Darby's face is blank as if she's gone completely numb and Max looks forlorn.

I run over to them and cling onto Darby who wraps her hands around me tightly. Phil jogs after me and also gives Darby a hug.

"Oh my God what happened?!" I ask, trying not to cry.

"I left a candle burning. It burned right through my bedside table. I'm lucky I got out without a scratch." Darby explains. "How did you know?"

"Phil told me," I say truthfully.

Max and Darby shift their attention to Phil who stumbles for a moment before saying, "I just had this feeling... that's all."

A firefighter approaches us, taking off her helmet and holding it under one of her arms.

"I'm so sorry about the damage. Luckily enough, it didn't burn through the structure of the building so it most likely won't do any lasting damage to the framework however it's definitely not safe for anyone until it's properly cleaned by professionals and I'm afraid that most of your belongings upstairs were most likely destroyed."

Darby closes her eyes and breathes deeply, absorbing this new, awful information. "Thank you for your service. You can go now."

The firefighter nods and walks off. Shortly after, the rest of the firefighters leave and the crowd dissipates.

"I have nowhere to go," Darby says, staring into space.

"You can stay with me if you like? I have plenty of room." I offer, putting a comforting hand on Darby's shoulder.

She looks up at me with that same, hauntingly blank expression. "Thank you, honey." She breathes and then embraces me again. I hug her back and breathe in her sweet perfume. But she doesn't smell the same. She smells smokey, almost like a barbeque. Max looks at us and then at Phil before looking about.

"Did you walk here?" He asks with judgemental curiosity.

"Yeah." Phil answers.

Max sighs. "Well, I can give y'all a ride back to your home?" He offers as I pull away from Darby's hug.

"Thanks, Max, you're a lifesaver." I say gratefully.

We walk over to Max's pickup truck. It's got a camo pattern and it's shiny. This is a truck that is used to be taken care of. Max does seem like the kind of person who would care more about his truck than most other things in life.

"Where do you live sweetcheeks?" Max asks as I get in the back next to Phil and Darby hops in the front next to her cousin. I tell him my address and he puts the keys in the ignition and we begin to drive. 

"I'll try remember your address for future reference." Max says with a flirtatious wink at me through the mirror. "So, Francis, where's your place? I'll drop you off too if needed."

"It's Phil." Phil answers shyly. Something about the way Phil is acting makes me think that he isn't used to being so shy around new people. "And I'm staying with Samantha for a while."

Max gives me and Phil a strange look that I can't read. "So are you two like a couple?"

"No, he just needed a place to stay so I let him crash at mine." I answer.

"Yeesh how many spare rooms do you have?" Max laughs.

"Three. Well, two. Ones filled with junk." I shrug. The room 'filled with junk' is actually my piano room. But I'm not about to reveal that to everyone.

Max drops us off and drives away as soon as Phil, Darby and I are out of his truck. We walk up to my home and I open the door, realising that it wasn't locked. I look back at Phil but he doesn't notice.

Darby doesn't speak as she enters my home. I feel sad. She's my friend. But now she seems... broken.

"I need a cigarette..." Darby sighs. She reaches into her dressing gown pocket and pulls out a box of cigarettes and a lighter. We all walk into my house as Darby lights the lighter. Upon seeing the flame, she squeals and drops both the cigarette and the lighter onto the floor. "F*ck. Sh*t." She mumbles as she bends down to get the cigarette and lighter. She angrily stuffs them back into her pocket and rubs her face with the palms of her hands.

"Maybe we should all go to bed? It's been a long night." Phil suggests.

"Will you be alright?" I ask Darby.

"Sugar I've been visiting you in this house since we were kids. I know this house like you do." Darby answers with a small smile.

We all walk upstairs in silence and then say goodnight before going into our own rooms.

I'm still in my pyjamas but Phil kicks off his jeans and shirt again so he's ready for bed.

"Do you want me to lay with you again?" Phil asks. I nod and Phil and I crawl into bed before collapsing into the pillow.

The bed is soft and feels like heaven compared to what I've just been through. I can't imagine how Darby is feeling.

Almost instinctively, I scoot up next to Phil and hug him as I close my eyes and focus on the way his skin feels. My fingertips tingle with magic as I hug his arm like a teddy bear and slowly trace my fingers along it. To anyone who may walk in at this moment, this may look like we're a couple or something. But I don't care. And right now, I don't think Phil does either.