Opposite Omens | Phan

Chapter 3 - Destruction

Dan and Phil had been researching this strange grey glow for over a week now. Their audience had finally seemed to have picked up the hint that they were offline, starting to make small conspiracy theories about their disappearance from the media.

Was there a new book coming out?

Did they have a fight?

Were they on a honeymoon?

Were they sick?

Had Dan moved out?

Were they dead?

In a way, some of the assumptions WERE true. Well, metaphorically. Dan and him were sick on curiosity and anguish, almost like a drug. The two, Dan especially, were desperate to find an answer to explain all of the events of the past couple days. They searched news sites. Forums. Reddit. Nothing seemed to add up. It was almost as if the duo were the only ones to have experienced this in the entirety of human history! Or at least, if they weren't the only ones, the previous victims had decided to keep their exploits a secret.

That fact in particular wasn't very surprising. Phil personally didn't think that putting this online was a very good idea. They both had the huge personas as "Dan and Phil" and he just felt that this would just overcomplicate the entirety of... well everything. How would their audiences react if they felt that... real? After all, there was such a thing as too relatable.

However, it did seem that we were running out of options. Google is supposed to have all the answers.... right? But what if it didn't. What then?

The best option then would be to just give up and let nature take its course. If the tattoos were meant to define everyones' futures, was there any point in trying to understand it? Maybe the best solution was to simply let destiny control the course of history. After all: why worry about something that you can not change?

~

Dan hadn't slept in days. Ever since he had returned back to the apartment with Phil, nothing had really been the same as it had been. As much as he wanted to deny that something had changed between them, it was painfully obviously. While it was impossible to tell what that change was exactly, the air between him and his best friend seemed almost electric, like if one of them were to take a wrong step... all hell would break loose. Or was he just hallucinating?

The search was beginning to get frustrating. How could there have been no studies done on such a phenomenon? Tattoos of this sort had been around for centuries, so how had there been no observations recorded of one turning grey? The sheer thought of being completely unique not only amazed him, but also made him terrified. There are two sides to the internet after all. The side that is loving and respecting of one another, the side that he first met Phil from. But then there was the other side. The side full of homophobic idiots with no right to own access to the internet, people that bully each other into submission.

Which side would find their issue first? Was there any way of telling for certain? No... but Dan was prepared to take risks.

~

"Phil, wouldn't it be easier if we just contacted someone else to help us with all of this? It doesn't have to everyone, just enough to try understand this or wha-"

"Dan don't you understand? We can't go public with this! We could be seen as freaks! Over a decade of hard work building our personas, down the drain! Do you want that Dan!"

Dan visibly flinched. You could sense the tension in the air, see the fear in his eyes.

Why did I snap like that?