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Chapter 38: Waking Up To Ash and Dust/ The End of All Things

TRIGGER WARNING: There is mentions of death, depression and suicide throughout the whole chapter. Please don't read this if that is something that triggers you.

Dan's POV

   My sleep is interrupted by the sunlight peering in through the window. When I open my eyes I am greeted by a familiar, plain, white ceiling and walls. The minimal furniture in the room makes the walls surrounding me seem a bit less suffocating. The sight is accompanied by a pain in my chest I know all too well. As usual, the Phil sized hole in my heart aches and consumes me for awhile. This is nothing new of course, it's been the same ever since I got to this place.

   I lay in my bed until the unusual nurse comes in with her clipboard reading 'Patient 2022: Howell, Daniel'. I say she's unusual because of the strange dress she wears. It's white like the rest of the nurses but it's longer and... tubular. Her hair is also less composed than everyone else's. Half of the time she wears a name tag like she's supposed to but half of the time she forgets. Today however she is wearing her name tag. Deliah Melapples. That's really the only name I got to know around here. Everyone else might as well be a figment of my imagination. Creating whole worlds in my mind wouldn't be anything new.

As usual, Deliah leaves me be until I sigh and sit up. I look at her and she smiles at me.

"I have some good news Daniel." She says looking down at her clipboard, a smile still on her face. When she looks back at me her smile turns into more of a crooked grin as she speaks. "You're ready to move into short term."

Short term. Where they send everyone they want to get rid of that isn't a danger to society. They think they've helped me forget Phil and convinced me he still isn't around. But they can't. I know what happened. I know he's still around.

   They don't know this though, and they never will.

   Today's the day, May 6th. It's been three years exactly since Phil died. Since Chris and PJ killed him.

After that my depression got the best of me. I attempted to kill myself a few times. It wasn't until the second time that I started to see Phil again. I know it was him, his ghost, but whenever I told anyone they said I was crazy. That's why my parents put me in this mental hospital. The only thing they've stopped is my attempts at killing myself. I still see Phil, I just know now to not tell anyone.

Deliah does her daily check up on me, asking me how I am, doing various tests; particularly my chest due to my history of breathing problems. That takes about 30 minutes.

"Everything seems good, I'm proud of you Dan." She says with a smile. "I'll let you get dressed and Tom will be up with your breakfast."

As she leaves I respond with a "sounds good" to satisfy her and make her believe I truly am fine.

   As soon as the door shut I grabbed some bleach and vinegar from behind my dresser. Science was never one of my good subjects in school so I made sure to pay extra attention in that class. At this moment I'm really glad I did. The bleach and vinegar will create chlorine gas which is very toxic to the body. Also the issues with my lungs make it extremely easy for me to collapse my lungs, all I have to do is hit the right spot a couple times. (A/N: I did minimal research so idk if this would actually be affective/ possible enough to kill him but we needed something and we wanted to make it seem sort of like breathing issues.)

   I mix the bleach and vinegar and wait. I quickly see the chemical reaction happen between the vinegar and bleach. A yellow gas begins to ooze out. I bring it closer so I can inhale it. Instantly my breath gets short and pain spreads through my throat. As the chlorine gas slowly eats away at my lungs and respiratory track I slip in and out of consciousness.