Opposite Omens | Phan

Chapter 1 - Putting the Pieces Together

After a long night of sharing jokes and watching movies, everything had finally started to slow down in the lives of Dan and Phil. The outside world, despite them living in the city, had for some reason almost gone completely quiet, leaving Dan alone with his thoughts. His friend had his focus on the movie playing on the screen in front of them, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, so he didn't even notice when Dan slipped off the couch and into the kitchen. More than anything right now, he needed time to think.

It had been about a month or so since he had realised his feelings for his best friend. Or rather, more than best friend feelings. The duo had been side by side for almost a decade, the thought bringing a subtle smile to his lips. A decade? He never really thought he would make it this far with anyone, much less his idol and man of his dreams. Mid-twenties in age, he was supposedly at the height of his life... now that was a reaching assumption about humanity that he could agree with. However, as he fumbled around the kitchen lost in thought, he somehow managed to slip on a loose floor tile. They should really get that fixed.

As he crashed to the ground, he let out a long stream of curse words, causing Phil to turn away from the movie for the moment and laugh at him. Dan clapped at himself sarcastically in response, prompting yet another snort from his friend before he turned back to the film on screen. Must have been a battle scene. However, just as Dan was about to put down his arms to stand up, he spotted something familiar. The tattoo on his upper arm.

Everyone in the world had one, from birth till death. These designs in particular were distinguishable by a very faint glow around the edge of the design. Irremovable and completely unique to each pair, the patterns certainly at least started as one of humanity's greatest mysteries. Only after countless years of private research on the subject was an answer finally proved and released to the public. The story went as follows:

Every time a child was born, a completely unique mark was to appear on their body, the location being random. Well, almost completely unique. The connection the studies had discovered stated that each person with the same mark, in one way or another, would be related to a significant event in each others lives. If the effect of said person was to be overally positive, the outline would be white. Oppositely, if the outcome was to be negative, the outline would be a dark black.

Simply thinking about reality in this way sent shivers down his spine. What if his greatest enemy was standing right in front of him, and he would never know? His tattoo in particular raised too many questions to count. The image depicted a looming white tree upon a black background, swirls of grey scarcely decorating the painted sky. The entire picture was outlined in a glowing white, a sight that was at least reassuring to see. The picture could have been almost beautiful if he had any clue what it meant. What did the tree mean for him? Did it mean anything? Did he already know the one who shared his tattoo? Was it black or white? Did it even matter?

Snapping back to reality, Dan pulled his sleeves back down and took a deep breath. "No time for a crisis tonight Dan. Today is the day. Today you can finally have a chance at having a life worth living, before you're murdered in a forest or something. Is this what it means to live life to the fullest?" 

He had been planning out this exact moment a million times over in his head ever since the very moment he had realized his feelings for Phil. A million questions about everything imaginable still floated around and clouded his thoughts, just as they always did, but he pushed them away to the back of his mind for now. He'll have to deal with the consequences later. When he wasn't confessing.

Taking one last deep breath, he walked over his friend on the couch. The movie's credits were rolling, Phil gently snoring to the soft music playing behind them. The sight brought a smile to his face, him then beginning to shake the man's frame slightly, trying to wake him up. He didn't move a muscle. Maybe staying up until 5 am watching anime for five days straight wasn't such a good idea after all. Dan shook his side again, this time with more force. However, instead of getting to see his eyes flicker open, his body moved in his slumber, freezing Dan solid.