Broken Windows // Phan AU

Chapter Twenty: Attack and Surrender

warning: violent content ahead

note: THIS CHAPTER IS IN DAN'S POV

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DAN'S POV

It's Tuesday. I called in sick from work today. I couldn't manage to go back so soon after who I thought I saw down aisle seven...

No. It could have been my imagination. I could just be paranoid. Yeah, let's go with that.

I need to relax today. Clean up around the house, spend time with Phantom. Take my mind off of everything I'm worried about before things start to resurface.

Phil left for work an hour ago. I decide to get up and make the bed, then have a nice, long shower. Wash the stress away.

Afterward, I boot up one of the video games I got Phil for his birthday and get lost in it for a couple of hours until I doze off on the sofa.

~~~

The moment I open my eyes, I cast a glance at the little green numbers under the television that read the time. It's 3:55 P.M., which means Phil won't be home for over an hour yet. Dammit, I wish he were here.

Finally starting to break out of my nap-induced haze, I get up off the living room sofa and head into the kitchen, where Phantom is quietly lapping up water from his bowl. He glances at me for a second or two before eventually losing interest and dunking his tongue back into the bowl, splashing water all over the floor around him.

"Phantom, you're making a mess," I inform him, although he doesn't seem to care much.

I grab some paper towels and wipe up the water Phantom had spilled. As I go to throw them away, I notice that the trash can is pretty full, so I decide to take it out. I sling the bag over my shoulder, slip on a pair of Phil's shoes, and head out the back door without a second thought.

As I walk into the alley and head toward the garbage bin, I fail to notice the black SUV parked about five metres down the cracked pavement from where I'm walking. Only as I drop the garbage bag into the bin and suddenly hear the slamming of a car door and the ominous sentence spoken by an all too familiar voice behind me, the realization finally hits me that something is wrong.

"Well, would you look at who the fuck it is."

They say that good things happen when you least expect them, and I completely agree. I mean, after the complete shitstorm I went through on that fateful December night so many months ago, the last thing I expected was to stumble into the life of someone like Phil Lester. Little did I know that the single most terrible experience of my life would turn out to be what ultimately pushed me into the hands of the best person I have ever known.

But if there's one more thing I have learned amidst the utter chaos that has been the past few months, it's the fact that bad things, too, are bound to happen when you least expect them, and sometimes there is absolutely nothing you can do to stop them.

So you can imagine my shocked reaction at the sound of those ten words. I'm frozen as my entire body slowly fills with dread. It takes me a moment to come to terms with the fact that staying frozen and willing myself away from the situation won't work, no matter how hard I try. So that's when I gradually turn around and find myself face to face with the literal embodiment of my nightmares.

He is tall, tan, and brunette, just as I remember. His striking, crazed blue eyes are locked on me, filled with a mixture of triumph and hatred. I can only imagine the terror swirling around in my own. I just stand there in silence, my hands still gripping the lid of the bin behind me as if I'm clinging onto my last shred of hope.