CHOKING ON FLOWERS ; phan

21

TWENTY DAYS AFTER ; 2008

The boys stayed at the Howell home for a couple of days, resting their minds for what they were going to do next. Daniel noticed how his neighbors flowers started to wilt and he could help but chuckle, oh if only she knew. Daniel insisted on planning everything out, but Phil had a different idea. Daniel didn't particularly like the idea of killing off Mrs. Lester, she had fostered the image of a real mother Dan's whole life, but the brunet knew this wasn't about him, this was about Martyn and Phil- and what that women did to the both of them.

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The pair approached the Lester household, a soft glow peaking through the blinds of the living room, Phil knew that Scott was on his ass watching TV while his wife was probably crushing up ice and fruit for smoothies. The knife that was tucked into Daniel's waist band pocket harshly at his hips, leaving angry red indents. Phil brought his hand to the door and knocked loudly, followed by a groan from inside before a manly, "Coming!". 

Scott's face contorted into shock as he opened the door and took in the two boys standing on his doorstep. Phil even hated the idea of Scott calling this house his home, it wasn't. It belonged to Micheal and Phil and Martyn. No longer Jackie, she was a stranger the day she walked inside of the building. 

"Oh. Hello Phil and..." His eyes scanned over Daniel, wracking his mind for who the brunet may be.

Phil wanted to bark out a laugh, Scott had met Dan on many occasions. Micheal could tell Daniel apart from anyone and he had only spent a year seeing the boy run around the Lester household after his son before he had to leave. Scott couldn't even remember his wife's middle name.

Phil met Daniel when Dan and Martyn were in grade school, Martyn and Dan had been best friends up until the boys death. Phil never made himself apparent whenever Dan came over, he only shut his bedroom door and played on his Nintendo until the boy left, his brother's funeral was the first he had actually spoken to the little brunet. 

"Jackie!" Scott shouted from the door.

"Oh just let me in, this is my house dimwit." Phil shouldered Scott as he entered, Dan not wasting a beat following him inside.

Jackie looked up from the place by the sink, her jet black hair had fallen out of her bun. Her eyes were wide as she looked at her son, then she smiled when she noticed the Howell boy.

"Oh my goodness, Phil, you never called." She scattered around, sucking in a breath when she noticed the pair hadn't taken off their shoes- she knew better than to mention it to Phil. 

"Oh, I don't know, maybe it's because you kicked me out."

"Honey, you know why I had to-"

"No, save it, I'm not here for me." Phil growled, looking at Dan and nodding towards Scott who had returned to his place on the sofa.

Daniel nodded back, striding over to the older man, Scott's eyes trained on Daniel's. The brunet took the knife out of his jeans and raised it above the man's head, Jackie screamed and darted over to her husband- Phil not wasting a split second to tackle her to the ground and pin her down. Scott put up a fight, punching Daniel in the jaw which was a very bad idea. After Phil restrained his mother into a chair, he knocked Scott over the head with a lamp before Daniel dug the blade into his bald skull.

"You good, darling?" Phil asked, wiping the sweat off of his forehead as he stepped closer to Dan.

"Yeah." The younger boy offered a smile.

"Good, because we have a lot more to do."

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"Why are you doing this to me!? I am your mother!" Jackie shouted, her wrists turning bright red from tugging on the rope that bound her to the chair. Dan and Phil had tied her to a chair inside their shed, Phil's pretty fingers danced over the neck of the wooden baseball bat.

"You are no mother to me, you definitely weren't a mother to Martyn."

"I took care of him for years when he was sick! It was your father who left-"

"HE LEFT BECAUSE YOU KILLED MY BROTHER." Phil snapped, grabbing Jackie by the jaw and forcing her to look at him. Daniel shivered, he knew what it was like to be under the grip of Phil Lester.

"This is ridiculous, do you really think I killed my own son?" Jackie spat back, struggling against the boys grip.

"I found all of the syringes in your room a couple years back, I found all of the pills and poisons. My therapist never took me seriously."

Dan's mind wandered back to Mrs. Kendall's call to his mother, was she in on the death of Martyn? She knew what Jackie did to him, so why didn't she stop her? Were all of the mothers in on some group of sickening this poor boy? 

"Mrs. Kendall knew what you did to Martyn, so did my mother. What did you all do to my best friend?" Dan could feel his chest tightening, he could feel the cold on the inside of his skull as his knees weakened. He knew he would topple over if what  he thought was true.

"You're going to kill me aren't you?" Jackie's eyes moved between the two, catching on the Howell boy. "You and Martyn where so close, how couldn't you see it? I always knew your mom was the weakest of the group, she never had the stomach to hurt her kid. She would always preach about how she didn't have the nerve to do it, so she made your father hurt you. Remember when he could beat you so hard you had to come here? That was all between us, Barb, Kathy, me, your dad. Barb never touched Chris, but she did give me the syringes and the pills I needed."

Once Jackie stopped talking, Daniel was in tears, his knees had buckled somewhere in the middle and he was on the dirty floor, hyperventilating and getting lost in memories of the little boy with fire hair and a sad smile. 

"Look at you, pathetic. Kathy never taught you discipline, she was the rat that called Child Protective Services. She got what came and killed her." 

"You knew?" Phil asked.

"Of course I knew, once she didn't return my calls I scoped out the house. You two are good at hiding bodies, how long did you plan that out for?"

"Two years." Dan mumbled from his place on the ground, his tears had stopped but he was still shaking- his voice numb and lifeless.

"Now you know. You can kill me now." Jackie smirked, looking up to face the boy that always refused to call her 'mom'.

"No," Phil tsked, the answer catching Dan off guard. "You'd like that too much, you are going to rot in prison for the rest of your life." Phil reached in his back pocket and pulled out his phone, flashing the screen to reveal his recorder. "Dan, baby, get around. I'm calling the police." 

The only thing Dan could hear through his muffled mind was the cries of the mother he thought he had as she was being catered away into the police car, the boys escaping into the night and out of sight. 

a/n

happy new year thots