A/N: Thank you for at least giving this fanfiction a chance by clicking on it. This was just a small idea that I thought of and made into a chaptered fic. Just so I don't scare you away with a really long author's note, I'll keep this short! Rated T for cussing and the word count minus author note is 1,423).
Disclaimer: I do not own Dan or Phil.
Phil Lester huffed under his breath and began thinking back to when he had idiotically told himself on the first day of starting a new school "new school, new start, right?" Wrong. When he had tried to find a way to fit in and make friends, everything ended in disaster and the events that happened at his old school were repeated. Turns out being nice and not bullying people gets you no friends and a loner reputation.
The last bell of the day rang then, causing most of the boys in the locker room to cheer and race out of the double doors to meet up with friends, catch the bus, or go to clubs and sports. Phil usually waited a while during these few energetic moments to avoid to squeeze through groups of friends and couples. Besides, he wasn't in the mood to feel lonely today. It was a freaking Friday! (although he spent his weekends alone but that was besides the point)
Two minutes after the bell, the whole room was completely void of people save Phil and the teacher who kept yelling at him to get out. The 16-year-old finally obeyed and headed out of the buildings.
Phil had been one of those transfer students who had come to attendance the day after the end of the winter holiday was over. Being fifteen (because he had only recently turned sixteen) and a bit shorter than six feet tall didn't exactly help with the situation of getting friends either. So he was lonely and an easy target for bullies.
Phil was awoken from his thoughts as soon as a twig snapped beneath his left shoe. Looking around at his surroundings, he realized that he had accidentally trod onto the forest's territory. Being someone who respected nature, loved animals and was immensely polite, Phil did what normal people would laugh or scoff at; he apologized.
"Oh, uh, sorry," he said nervously in a small voice. Who wouldn't in this situation? Not that many people who get put in this place would do that. "I... I didn't mean... I'll just leave."
Phil knew it was weird. He knew he was weird. That was why he thought mistaking the sound of wind-blown leaves for a voice when he heard the reply. "It's been a while since someone's done that." Phil jumped.
Without a second thought, he began to run in the direction that he had come from. Or at least, he tried to. Phil couldn't make it ten steps before he was stopped by a pale figure standing about six yards away. They were wearing a plain black shirt that was terribly weathered, black skinny jeans and black shoes, all in the same condition.
They stood there for a few seconds, just staring, until Phil blinked and the figure was gone.
The weekend went by quickly, mostly due to the fact that Phil hated school and he spent 90 percent of the time thinking about the mysterious presumed nymph boy. Was he even a boy?
Barely into the first eighteen minutes of class, Phil was already doodling into the pages of his science notebook, making a huge dragon consume the notes that he had just written five minutes ago. Phil's eyelids began to droop and his head started to nod off from lack of sleep. The next thing he knew, he was being shaken up by a girl with dyed blonde hair who appeared to be passing papers out.
"Hey," she said almost kindly, "he's explaining homework. Stay awake." Phil nodded dumbly, now fully awake.
"Um... thanks?" Phil offered her a smile, the action almost unfamiliar from him not using it for the past month. The girl had already turned around and didn't seem to notice. She had most likely just woken him and used her breath and time to talk to him because she had a good reputation and was nice to everyone. Her not get bulliedlife was kind of the life that Phil had been trying to obtain: be nice to everyone, have friends, and not get bullied.
Nothing else out of the ordinary happened for the rest of the school day except his third period art teacher complementing his drawings, but she did that for everyone. While walking back home, however, the high school boy found himself absentmindedly heading in the direction of the forest again. It was as if fate—or something like it—was pulling him back into the odd nymph mystery.
"Hello?" Phil called as he stepped into the forest, this time making sure to ask permission to enter. "Hello?!" No reply.
"I know you're out there... somewhere," Phil continued speaking with a loud voice. The forest was silent. At this point, Phil was having second thoughts about seeing the presumed nymph. It could easily have been a hallucination. Or maybe the nymph was scared. "Don't wor—"
Suddenly, Phil felt a slight breeze and the next thing he knew, he was being shoved to the ground from behind. "Shut the fuck up!" a voice hissed from above him. Without meaning to, Phil yelped and tried to crawl out from under whoever was above him. Phil did that my uncomfortably sliding out of the straps of his backpack and slowly inching himself forwards.
When he was finally free, the teen turned to look at his attacker to see the nymph from Friday, sitting with his mouth open in shock. The two of them stared at each other blankly (much like what happened on Friday) before Phil got the courage to ask, "um, are you a nymph?"
The 'nymph' glowered at him. "This is why I don't talk to humans. Kind of surprising you came looking for me." Phil smiled, liking the sound of the 'nymph's' voice. Although it sounded like it could belong to a boy about the same age as him, Phil couldn't be too sure. The 'nymph's' eyes seemed too guarded and serious for someone of that age. Maybe they were a spirit and not a nymph.
Looking closer, Phil realized that whatever he was talking too did not have anything inhuman about their body except for the fact that they were extremely pale. Having the skin tone of freshly fallen snow, Phil couldn't exactly say that was odd however. "So, uh... you a n—" Phil tried to ask again.
"No! Ugh, why do I even bother?!" the not-nymph practically roared, instantly getting up and walking towards part of the thicker trees. "Just... forget you saw me."
"Wait," Phil called after the... whatever they were, "you're not human are you?" As soon as he said this, Phil realized that it was a stupid thing to ask since the not-nymph had pretty much regarded Phil as 'human' and something that wasn't talked to.
"No," came the reply, "but I... used to be."
"Vampire?" Phil couldn't help asking. It kind of made sense; the pale skin. The retreating figure turned around.
"No, I'm a ghost for fuck's sake, okay? I used to be a boy, I died, now I'm a ghost," the boy said, turning away again. He sounded like he was about to cry, making Phil realize that even though this boy could be over one thousand years old, he was still a boy and was probably lost on this earth. "Um," the ghost continued, "sorry for, y'know, stealing your time and cussing at you."
"Wait," Phil told the ghost for the second time, "come here." What the hell? Phil thought to himself. You sound like you're trying to hit him! "Oh and I'm not trying to hit on you, by the way." That just made it more awkward.
Thankfully, the boy didn't take notice of the last sentence and instead of turning back to walk into the woods again, he walked over to Phil and sat across from him. "Yeah?"
"Um... do you..." Phil trailed off midsentence, not knowing what to say suddenly. "Uh..."
The boy stopped him before he could make the situation more awkward. "Hey, you know this world, right? I mean, the recent technology and around this town. Could you, maybe, show me?"
Phil tried to see where the boy was going with this. "Well, I only moved here a month ago, but I have a map." The boy beamed at this.
"Great! Wanna help me look for the afterlife?"
A/N: Thanks for reading! Please review and tell me what you thought of the first chapter. I'm going to try to keep this chaptered fic pretty short because I just went back to school today and everything seems kind of stressful. I can't make any promises about when I'm going to update, but I'll try for at least once a month. Really sorry if that doesn't work out. Also, (slight self promo) I have an Instagram account that I don't use anymore which might turn into the account where I tell you about all about updates about stories or chapters. Back to school: since school is starting again, I'm going to post a Warrior Cats fanfiction which is about my OCs. (to those of you warrior cat fans) Unfortunately, I haven't finished it yet and I wrote it last year, so I need to pick up where I left off in the middle of the story. *sigh* Back to this story: I do want to make these chapters a lot longer, but I don't think I can do that with all the stress of school. (I'll try, but it might fail)
Thanks again, byee!