Colorful | Phan | Completed

40%

"W-what?" Phil stuttered, stepping back as if he had just seen a ghost.

"Go wait inside. We will talk about this later." Phil's mom instructed. The rest of their conversation consisted of me trying to read their lips as mom drove away from their house.

She was silent on the way home as well, leaving me with an unsettling atmosphere. I was left to suffocate in my own thoughts.

Color boy wasn't so colorful after all.

He barely used his colors anymore; stopped reading the animal books... It was almost as if he were a completely different person. If I had just met him today, I would've figured he was perfectly normal.

But as Phil always told me, normalness leads to sadness.

I couldn't help to think that I was the reason he changed... That I was the chainsaw in his rain forest.

Maybe if I just left him alone, he would be okay.

But that's not gonna happen.

Mom pulled in the driveway of our house, and in one swift motion, pulled the keys out of the ignition and opened her door.

She was almost inside the house before I shut the passenger side door. I shook my head. How stupid was I to think that we would get away with it? And taking Adrian was the last straw.

Goodbye cell phone. Goodbye TV. Goodbye social life.

When I entered my house, dad was sat on the same couch he had taken when he first arrived. "Dan." He called.

I sighed, making my way to the seat across from him. I felt like a culprit about to be determined guilty by the judge.

"What the hell were you thinking?" He asked, his voice strong and loud.

"I was thinking-"

"No! You weren't thinking!" He shook his head. I looked at the floor. "Dan. We did not raise you to act like this."

"We?" My head snapped up, and I breathed a laugh as if he told a horrible joke. "I'm sorry, we did not raise me. My mom raised me."

"Wh-"

"It doesn't count when you come home for a month and are in a different country for the other eleven!"

"I am your father. And-"

"And a horrible one at that."

"Give me your cell phone." He held out his hand. I took my phone out of my back pocket, walked to him, and placed it in his palm. "No internet, or TV for two weeks." Dad declared, standing from the couch. "But... Why did you run away?"

"Cause my best friend is being bullied. He wanted to get away and he wanted me to be with him."

"So you took Adrian?"

"Adrian wanted to come."

"That's no excuse."

"I'm going to my room." I began walking away, but dad grabbed my shoulder.

"I'm not done talking to you, young man."

"I'm done listening."

"Let's add another week, then. Three weeks without any technology. And you are to come home right after sch-"

"Fine! Whatever! Can I go?" I asked, already upset about the situation. If he kept me in the same room as him any longer I was sure to get a years worth of punishment.

"I don't want you to run away again. Nonetheless with Adrian."

"You know why I truly went? Why I agreed to go with him in the first place, and take Adrian?"

"Enlighten me."

"Because we hate living here. It's so quiet, and small, and I needed to get out. You go everywhere! And you've never taken me once! I've left this town only for Christmas dinner at Gramma's, and it doesn't count because I'm cooped in that house too!" I explained. "Why don't you take me with you, to different countries?"

"It's all for business, Dan."

"Drawing people isn't business! It's a hobby, and a sure fire way to make easy money."

"Daniel.." He warned, and I should've stopped there. But I needed to say it.

"You just don't want to get a real job because you're lazy."

Did you hear that?

That was the sound of the punishment my father dropped on me.

The yell heard around the world.

"DANIEL JAMES HOWELL, YOU ARE GROUNDED FOR ONE MONTH."

"Maybe you'll be gone before then."

"Dan!" Mom called, rushing to my side. "Apologize to your father and then go to your room."

"Sorry." I simply muttered, pushing my way past mom and up the stairs.

I reached for my back pocket to text Phil about what had happened to me when it hit me.

One month.

A/N: So many reads and comments oh my god!!!  Thanks everyone who is enjoying this story and sorry this chapter is a little forced. I'm on vacation in Mexico and the wifi sucks and the entire chapter erased and I forgot what I had wrote. Whoops.

Hope everyone is having as much fun reading the story as I am writing it.

And here's a little #spon again. Make sure to check out the book Love Song, written by me and my friend phanfic7 (on her page). Love you all and hope you're having a good summer!