Get Out Your Damn Umbrellas

Chapter 20

It was just after midnight. Louise sat at her desk in her home office staring at her phone with the front facing camera on. She dabbed at her eyes with a Kleenex, but it did nothing to remedy the fact that she currently looked like a complete mess. Still, there was probably no point in trying to fix her makeup if she was going to cry it off again. Taking a deep breath, Louise opened the Instagram app and pressed record.

"Hey there, everyone," Louise said with a tearful half-smile. "I know it's quite late for a lot of you, but I wanted to give you all a... quick emergency update. For those of you who are unaware of tonight's events, I'm sorry, but I don't think I'm... legally allowed to say anything about it, and I'm not sure that I could bring myself to talk about it anyways. All I can tell you is that Dan and Phil are safe. They're currently in an undisclosed location and have been given protective detail by the police, but they are safe."

"For those who do have at least some idea of what's going on, I'm guessing there's a lot of you out there tonight who are probably... terribly upset, to say the least. Honestly, I'm barely keeping it together right now," she admitted with a small huff and a sniffle, "but the main thing I wanted to tell all you tonight is just... please, take care of yourselves. The proper authorities have been informed and are handling the situation, and Dan and Phil have plenty of friends and family surrounding them who love them and would do anything to protect them."

"I wish there was more I could say to comfort everyone. I know that's something that Dan is rather good at, saying comforting things that help people feel a little better. Actually, there's probably quite a few video compilations out there of calming moments from Dan's liveshows. Maybe it'd be good to watch a few of those if you're feeling overwhelmed. Unfortunately, though, you're gonna have to be extra careful online for a little while. If someone tries to send you a link that says 'new danisnotonfire video' or anything along those lines, block and report them immediately, and make sure your other online friends and followers know to do that too. Just please do whatever you can keep yourselves and others safe."

Louise stopped recording and pressed "send." Then she got up and went to the window. For the hundredth time that night, Louise peered through the dark glass to make sure the police car parked outside her house was still there.

It was only a short while ago that they'd finally been allowed to leave BBC Radio 1 headquarters. The police had kept everyone there for hours while they looked through security footage, gathered intel from the computer systems, and questioned as many people as they could. They hadn't been able to question Dan and Phil, though, because they were both too heavily sedated.

Still, they were lucid enough to decline being taken to the hospital.

Louise traipsed quietly down the hall and peaked through the door to the guest room. The boys were right where she left them, nestled safely in the narrow guest bed with its periwinkle blue comforter and flowery pillows. Phil was sprawled out like a giant house cat on top of the younger boy, and his ear was pressed to Dan's chest right over his heart like he was listening to it beat. The bedside lamp cast shadows in the valleys of Dan's pale, gaunt features, but his eyes were alight with warmth as he gazed down at Phil and gently stroked his raven black hair.

Then when Louise knocked lightly on the doorframe to let him know she was there, those wide brown eyes stared back at her.

"Hey," Dan said with a tired smile. "You're still up?"

"Yeah," Louise whispered. "I'm gonna go to bed soon, or try to, anyways. Just wanted to check on you one more time." She stepped into the room and drew closer to the bed. "Is Phil asleep?"

"I think so. He was in and out for a while, but he seems to have finally drifted off."

"Do you want me to, um, move him over, or-"