So Far Away

Painful Steps

Phil was the first to leave the house. The following day was the weekend, so they'd organised to meet up the next morning. Phil looked towards Dan's bedroom door. The poor boy was asleep probably, so Phil just walked down the stairs and left the house.

~

Dan wanted nothing more than for someone to hold him and tell him it was all OK. He'd attempted to Skype his friends, but to no avail. All unpacked, he lay on his bed, physically and mentally exhausted.

A light knock at the door disturbed him.

Luke peered through the door yet again. "Hey, Dan, come for a walk. It might make you feel better, think of it as a tour of the neighbourhood."

Dan's first reflex was to decline and say he was tired, but a nagging voice inside his head pushed him to get out, be active and distract himself. He nodded feebly, rising from the bed. Luke smiled.

~

"Are you OK? I mean, the past few days have been huge for you." Luke said, waiting for Dan to close the front door.

"I was just a bit homesick." Dan said, following Luke down the pathway.

"Oh, mate, I hope it gets better." Luke smiled, patting Dan's back.

Dan grinned slightly. Luke's words were of no real help, but the intentions made him feel slightly better.

"So, just around here is like, the shops and all. We should grab some stuff." Luke said.

Dan nodded. "I am kinda hungry."

"Well, Mum and Dad won't be back for a while so let's make ourself a shitty feast!!" Luke grinned.

"Sounds good!" Dan exclaimed. This little quest was quite a good idea.

As they entered the store, Dan was a bit stunned at what he saw. The set out was different, and hundreds of different and foreign foods were stacked high on shelves.

"OK, let's go!" 

~

Half an hour later, Dan had seen about 20 foods that he had honestly no idea about. As he carted the trolley around, Luke snatched various items from the shelves. Dan curiously pulled a green tin from the trolley.

"What's this?" Dan asked, reading the can but finding no real information.

"That's Milo!! It's the shit man." Luke laughed. "It's like the infinite food. You can have it with practically anything! Well, anything sweet I guess."

"Please no Vegemite!!!" Dan yelped. That was the only real food he'd heard about in Australia, and it didn't sound good.

Luke chuckled and shook his head. "Nah, mate, you've gotta. Think of it as a right of passage." At that moment, Luke found a large jar of Vegemite and placed it in the trolley.

Dan smiled slightly, although the jar sat ominously staring at him. The feeling of alienation was beginning to seep away.

~

Later that night, the two boys returned home, with piles of shopping bags. They both exchanged laughs as Dan began to visibly relax.

"OK, I say we have Milo on icecream, Vegemite sandwiches, Wizz Fizz, Fairy Bread and Caramello Koalas for dinner! A 'WELCOME TO AUSTRALIA' feast!!!" Luke laughed.

Dan chuckled. He noticeably felt a lot better than his shocking state 2 hours ago.

After they finished the meals, and many disgusted and also pleasantly shocked looks from Dan, the boys flicked on a movie.

After about 20 minutes though, Luke's phone buzzed.

"What is it?" Dan asked.

"Mum and Dad are both working late, til midnight. It's nothing." Luke answered.

Dan got slightly anxious at the thought of having no responsible adults around the house, and tensed up.

'Wait, that's OK right? You're fine with that?" Luke said quizzically.

"Yeah, um, sure. I might head to bed though." Dan said.

"Oh, ok, sure." Luke said.

Dan practically sprinted up the stairs to avoid another spurt of crying.

~

When Phil returned home, his mother greeted him at the door.

"Hey, Phil!! Could you please come here?" she yelled.

Phil dumped his bag at the door, before heading to the kitchen. Phil's little brother, Martyn, shot down the stairs at the exact same time.

"OK boys, I'm going to be out for tonight, so I need you both to do a few things for me. Martyn, could you unpack the dishwasher and water the garden please? And Phil, could you please walk Molly." Phil's mother said, gesturing to a dog asleep at the door, snoring loudly.

Martyn  huffed, before heading out the back door. Phil agreed, before grabbing a lead for the dog.

~

Molly huffed and panted loudly as she walked, straining on the lead ahead of Phil. Phil tore out a headphone to slow her down. 

"Molly, heel. Come on, please, it's too hot for this." Phil whined.

As he looked up, Phil heard laughing. Instinctively, his eyes shot to the source.

He saw Luke, holding multiple shopping bags, laughing with a figure who Phil couldn' mistake, even after only knowing him for a day. Dan.

Dan looked happy, relaxed. He walked with Luke, shopping bags in hand. A pang of jealousy shot through Phil, his mind shooting to bad conclusions again. Did Dan wait til Phil had left to leave the room? He shook away these thoughts, reminding himself of when Dan had actually sought him out at school. An internal battle waging, Phil pulled on Molly's lead to turn around and go home.