THE FIRST TO STAY | PHILIP PEARSON ≪ON HOLD≫

II.

PROTOCOL THREE: DON'T TAKE A LIFE;
DON'T SAVE A LIFE, UNLESS OTHERWISE DIRECTED;
DO NOT INTERFERE.

the brown-haired girl once again found herself seated across the mysterious, seemingly lonely blonde boy. the fingers of her left hand wrapped themselves around her cold frappuccino-like drink while those of her right hand extended out as she introduced herself to philip, "i'm sadie thomas."

philip reached out his hand to shake her extended one and nodded, "philip pearson."

philip remembered her name. sadie thomas was a name that seemed to be etched in his mind, not just because of her presence across from him but from an ealier -or later, considering he is from the future- time. he racked his mind for a sadie thomas until it came to his mind.

sadie thomas was a t.e.l.l.. she would die today at 3:46:20 pm due to a poison that was found in her drink.

philip's eyes unconsciously traveled to her caffeinated drink, luckily the straw was still half cover by the paper wrapping. she had just ordered.

the girl noticed his gaze and started talking animatedly, "i don't take this much sugar in my drinks," she raised the plastic cup, "my friend had ordered it for herself, but she had to leave suddenly and now i'm stuck with it." she stared at it, "luckily, it's a small! i could just throw it away, you know?" she pushed it over to the side, not wanting to make her first impression for philip to be 'fat, sugar-freak diabetic'.

philip turned his watch over, the clock telling him that the time was 3:44:56. a minute and 24 seconds until she would die. but something didn't add up. the poison in her body had to have taken at least to minutes to take effect. she never took that first sip.

the seconds ticked down in philip's mind. the clock had hit 3:45:20. exactly a minute left. his eyes moved up from his watch to sadie's eyes. he didn't know her well but in that moment, 48 seconds before her supposed death, he realized he didn't want her to die.

sadie smiled at the boy in front of her. he looked conflicted, confused and a little bit sad? maybe it was her too-nice-for-her-own-good personality that decided to sit down in front of him and become his friend, but she felt obligated to help him. he seemed broken and familiar. the bags under his eyes, his constant spacing out and his jittery hands all reminded her of someone so close to her.

"you're an ex-addict," she stated, "or well, trying to be."

the surprise in his eyes was prominent as philip shot his eyes open, "what? how did y-how did you know?"

she shrugged, "i've lost someone to addiction. i know what it looks like to be withdrawn."

she eyed his coffee, "good thing is, you haven't taken a sip of your coffee." she reached over the table to pull it out of his loose grip.

"why," philip started, "why is that a good thing?"

she raised an eyebrow at him, her hands moving the cup of cold black coffee to her lips, "don't get addicted to something else while trying to stop your addiction."

philip mind slowly went back to just a day earlier, maybe even hours, when trevor had told him to stop using the eye drops.

"caffeine." she stated, "just as addictive as any drug."

the clock in philip's mind silently rang as the time hit 3:46:20. he had altered the timeline without even realizing. here he sat, waiting for her to fall limp in front of him, not being able to change anything, when unknowingly he was doing something to change her future.

she took a sip of the coffee, "so, what are you withdrawing?"

philip looked at her, head cocked slightly to the death. he licked his lips before sitting up straight, "heroin."

he didn't mean to interfere but it happened. then again, he didn't know much of the future anymore. maybe sadie thomas never becomes a t.e.l.l. with the changes his missions made. she was here to stay.

"let me help you," sadie smiled, "i could use a friend. and you seem like you do too."