My Spirit Love (phan)

二十三 - 𝓞𝓷𝓮 𝓸𝓻 𝓣𝔀𝓸

The first voicemail that came through was twenty long minutes later. Twenty minutes of Dan staring at the clock face's hands snarl at him with each stroke. Twenty minutes of rubbing his eyes raw on the edges of his sleeves.

His head was laying against the arm of the sofa, his legs flung over the other side as he watched the time on the far wall. The phone began to ring, Dan immediately sitting upright, placing his elbows on his crossed legs and he bent forwards as though the few inches would change the quality of sound.

He waited, letting the dial draw out until the operator announced a voicemail was to come through. The spirit listened to the tone ringing out, followed by the sound of Phil's very deflated brother, "Hey Dan, I'm just driving around. No signs of him yet, I hope you're alright, I'll update again soon."

The spirit pursed his lips, lashing his fists through the seat behind him, cursing, "Fuck." before throwing his arm through the sofa again, imagining he was making a loud bang against the fabric.

Dan sat up, crossing his legs into his body with his fingers dancing between each other, his mind desperately searching for any hints as to where Phil could be, but they'd spent every day with each other for the past eleven years; if he hadn't thought of it by now, he wasn't going to find anything later. Even if he did, he had no way of telling Martyn, so he wondered if it was better if he didn't think about it at all.

Five minutes later, the phone rang again until the tone dialled out and the voicemail followed, "I see him, Dan. He's just walking along the streets. I'll keep my phone between the seats so you can hear us." the sound of the car door opening and shutting ran through the landline, "Phil?" Dan heard Martyn call, "Come on, bro, I'll take you back home, we can talk there." the words were hard to make out at the end.

"Fuck off." an even more muffled Phil cursed. Daniel moved himself to the table where the phone was sat against, leaning his elbows either side of it as the next few minutes were inaudible.

The line fell into silence, until a car door slammed again. Dan listened patiently, the sound of wind blowing against the car's windows echoing down the line. He heard harsh breathing that was irregular and heavy, before a sharp intake of breath. He furrowed his eyes, focusing on the sounds he was hearing, wondering if anyone was going to speak. The spirit dreaded over the thought, "What if he doesn't come back at all?"

"Come here," Martyn chuckled reassuringly, the sound of fabric shuffling as the muffled sobs continued, "You'll be alright." it couldn't have been anyone else but Phil the eldest boy was comforting, but the helpless teenager on the other end of the phone couldn't help but surpress his hope.

"Martyn?"

Dan gasped, swallowing the pain in his throat as he began to laugh to himself with relief. His hands wrapped around his torso as he fell into the back of the sofa, holding his knees to his chest as he let the last of his tears gather against his chin. It was undoubtedly Phil.

"Yeah?" Martyn replied.

"Can I be honest?"

"Of course."

"It's not going to be alright." Phil's voice was tangled with defeat and a part of the spirit believed he should have been waking away from the landline, possibly towards the drive where he could sit, waiting for his best friend to come back home. He could watch the spring buds dance in the winds on the trees, the blossom beginning to settle against the grass of their front garden. But, he didn't. The two of them barely got the chance to talk to anyone besides from each other; the exact reason Dan thought Phil should have this moment in peace. But for some reason he couldn't.

"What do you mean?" Philip's older brother asked him, ready to dismiss his younger sibling's concerns.

Dan heard Phil take a breath in, and he did, too, "A year ago Dan and I found out that for him to be alive, he's been draining my energy. Not the energy I take in from eating or whatever, but my actual core energy. I don't know what that is, and I've spent the last nine months trying to work it out. But we do know that for Dan to stick around, he's been surviving off of it." he paused, the spirit wondered if he was giving his brother a moment to absorb the information, "It's been killing me. I've been getting weaker my whole life and it's getting really fucking bad. I'm dying, Martyn, and I will be for as long as I want Dan to live with me; for me to live with Dan."