twisted (phan) || book #2

three

D A N ' S P O V

"I've come to a conclusion."

I turned to face Phil. "What?" I asked. At the moment, the two of us were in the middle of the woods and laying on the roof of the car.

It was dark out, the only sounds being our banter and the crickets and owls chirping away.

"We need disguises."

I raised an eyebrow at him. I sat up and climbed onto him, straddling him and looking down at him with a small smirk on my face. "And what do you mean by that?"

"Hair dye, wearing sunglasses and hoodies more. If there's a chance the people from back home are looking for us, we can't have them finding us. Especially if the cops find out it was us- our faces would be all over the news and billboards."

I nodded. "And what else? New names?" I leaned down, brushing my nose against his. "'Cause I've already got one for you."

He played along. "Oh yeah? And what is it?" Teased Phil.

I ran my lips over his earlobe. "I don't know. You tell me, daddy." I felt him tense up and grinned to myself.

"Shut your mouth before I have you in this very spot right now-"

"What's stopping you?" I cut him off. He sat up, opening his mouth to reply when someone shouted,

"Stop right there!"

We froze.

Oh god. Oh god, oh god, oh god. What if it's our friends? Or the cops know it was us?

"Get off the vehicle!" A man yelled. Phil and I exchanged worried glances but hopped off his car, our hands up.

I quickly reached behind me to make sure my pocket knife was still in my jeans. Two cops came into view, shining flashlights in our eyes. "What do you two think you're doing?"

"Making out on the roof of my car. What do you think we're doing?" Phil sarcastically replied. I swatted him in the side, blushing.

"I don't like your attitude," one cop growled. He glared.

Phil wasn't having it. "And I don't like your fucking flashlight in my eyes, but you don't see me complaining."

I giggled to myself.

"Do you know why we've stopped you?" The quiet cop questioned. We shook our heads. "This is private property. You're trespassing."

"Oh. I apologize, officers- for trespassing and for the exaggerated attitude of my boyfriend. We'll leave." I stepped in.

The two men left after some hesitation. He wrapped his arms around me, noticing I was upset and pulling away. "What's wrong?"

"You can't be an asshole to just everyone, Phil," I scolded softly. "Especially not cops. They're the ones that can ruin us."

"I know. I'm sorryyyyy," he dragged out, pouting his lip. I smiled at him before giving in and pressing a gentle kiss to his lips. He kissed back reassuringly, melting into my touch like putty to a child.

"I love you, you know that?" I murmured. "You're just kinda stupid sometimes." He chuckled.

"I know. I love you too."

And so we got back in the car and drove back to the hotel, locking the door and climbing into the covers.

"Phil?" His back was turned to me but I was lightly running my nails along his white t-shirt clad skin, and he relished into my contact.

"Yeah?"

I took a deep breath. "Is it possible to run away from yourself?"

He rolled over, facing the wall. "Don't you think that if it was, I would've done it already?" His voice was quiet.

I sighed, and after some silence, a thought came to mind. "I want a tattoo."

He turned to face me and I instinctively nuzzled into his chest. His arms wrapped around me. "First a septum piercing, now a tattoo? What would you even get?"

"A rose. With thorns on the stem. To me that means that even something so beautiful can be so painful. It's pretty until you touch it."

He exhaled and pressed a kiss to my forehead. "You're still the same brooder I know."

I smiled sadly. "Yeah." That's the only thing I still have of the old me, I mentally added. Silence followed again and soon Phil's snoring greeted it. I stayed awake.

What would tomorrow be like? Will we run away? How many hotels are we going to stay at anyway? Will the running ever stop?

Will I ever see my family?

I exhaled, running my hands over my face. I looked up at Phil to see his mouth slightly parted. I grinned at the sight of him.

Standing up, I rubbed my tired eyes, trudging into the bathroom. I washed my face, grabbing a towel and drying my face off. I set the towel down, taking one last look in the mirror.

I screamed.

Behind me was Wirrow, a devious smile on his face, the blood stains still present on his chest and forehead.

I spun to face him, but when I turned, he was gone. I shook my head wildly, blinking furiously.

"Dan?" I heard Phil call out, concerned.

I gulped. "I'm fine! I thought I saw a rat!" I lied, trying to keep my voice calm. "Sorry for waking you."

Was I going insane? No, I'm probably just tired. Yeah, that's it. I'm fine. I'm okay. It's alright.

As I was walking back I heard a phone go off and jumped, still fidgety from the previous hallucination in the bathroom. "Was that mine?" Phil mumbled sleepily.

"Yeah, I'll check it for you."

I picked it up, checking what the notification was. My eyes widened when I saw who texted him. "Huh?"

Phil sat up, furrowing his eyebrows. "What? Who is it?"

I showed him the text.

bryony: i need your help.
delivered at 2:04am