Chapter 1: Hope Not Too Lonelyy

Dan Howell, who had only been at Canyon Ridge Mental Hospital for a mere two hours, already felt like he was losing his damn mind. He didn't belong there. He made one stupid mistake, and now he was being punished for it. Instead of seeing a psychiatrist and getting the help he desperately needed, Dan was confined within the run down hospital for the mentally insane and emotionally unstable.

He rolled over onto his side, sniffling and allowing (for once in his miserable life) tears of sorrow to fall down his tan colored cheeks. Dan curled himself up into a little ball and cradled himself back and forth. He could slowly feel himself losing his grip with his touch on reality.

The only reason Dan was forcibly admitted to Canyon Ridge was because he decided, quite dumbly, to swallow three entire bottles of pills. When his mother found him with bloody cut up wrists and tears still rolling down his cheeks, passed out in the family bathroom, she immediately dialed 999, and Dan was brought to the nearest hospital. Within an hour they had force fed him charcoal, which absorbed all the dangerous toxins in his body. Unfortunately, it also made him throw up profusely.

Now here he was, in a room with all white walls, no windows, and no door. Alone. The bunk next to him was empty, the blankets perfectly folded, as if it hadn't been slept in since the sanitarium opened in 1947. The sight made Dan physically sick. He didn't like this room.

"Hey," a soft voice called from where the door would be.

Dan looked up and was met with the image of a pale boy with striking blue eyes, jet black hair, and an attractive figure. Dan literally felt his heart skip a beat and then come crashing back down.

"Are you a patient here too?" Dan asked, assuming the other boy must be his new roommate.

"No," the pale skinned boy replied. "I'm one of the part time nurses."

He walked over to Dan's bed, careful not to make any sudden movements. He didn't want to scare the younger boy away.

"Here," he said, holding out a plate of food. "You missed lunch, so I decided to bring you something from the cafeteria. I got you some apple juice, too, because who doesn't love apple juice?"

Dan smiled gratefully at the kind blue eyed stranger. This gesture was the nicest thing anyone had done for him in a long time.

"Thanks. I'm Dan, by the way."

"I know," the dark haired boy responded. "My name's Phil."

Dan blinked at the older boy. "How did you know my name?"

Phil giggled and pointed down at Dan's wrist. "It's on your wristband, silly. Plus, as a staff member, it's my job to know and remember each patient's name and face."

"Cool," Dan replied, unsure of what to say next.

The chocolate eyed teen glanced over at the unoccupied bed, the same sense of dread overcoming him. The room suddenly felt very cold.

"I don't like it in here," Dan admitted.

"Most people don't enjoy hospitals," Phil remarked. "Especially ones made to contain the mentally unstable."

"It's not the hospital that makes me feel uneasy," Dan clarified. "It's this room."

"You could always go up to the front desk and ask for a room change," Phil suggested.

"Yeah, yeah," Dan agreed. Now he could literally feel a cold force encompassing him. "I'll be right back."

Dan rose from his position on the bed and shuffled down the hallway, his hospital gown mindlessly dragging across the carpeted floor. When he reached the front desk, he saw a young woman with a name tag that read Lisa sitting behind the counter.

"Um, Lisa?" he asked experimentally.

The pretty young woman looked up from her paperwork and flashed him a genuine smile. "That's me. Is there anything I can help you with?"

"I was wondering if I could get a room change?" Dan questioned.

Lisa stared at him blankly for a few moments. "We don't do room changes here."

"Really? Are you sure?" Dan pushed.

"I'm sure," Lisa stated. "We haven't done a room change at Canyon Ridge since 2005. Too many teenagers requested room changes to get closer to the girls, hang around the wrong kids, etc. It was too much of a struggle to keep them all in line, so we just abolished the room changing rule all together."

"But Phil said we could get our rooms changed?" the teenager instigated.

"Who's Phil?" Lisa asked, now just as confused as Dan.

The brown haired boy scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Phil. He's a part time nurse who works here."

Lisa's jaw dropped and her breathe hitched. "Nobody by the name of Phil works here."

Dan's light brown eyes went wide. He gave Lisa one last glance before bolting down the halfway and back into room sixty four. When he entered the barren wasteland, there was no plate of fresh food. No apple juice. No sign of life. No sign of Phil.

Dan collapsed onto the ground, tears once again stinging his eyes. Maybe the doctors were right. Maybe he was crazy.

End of the first chapter!

Sorry it was so sad, I was inspired to write this for whatever reason. I had an overwhelming urge to write Dead!Phil and Sad!Dan. Writing this was quite a relief for me considering I've been suffering from a bad case of writer's block for the past few weeks now. Anyway, I plan to make this story a series of oneshots. Some will be sad like this, others romantic, etc.

If you could follow this story, drop a review, or favorite this phanfic it would mean the world to me (:

~Naya