London at night is a truly beautiful thing: all the illuminations everywhere make the whole city look like some sort of futuristic jungle of neon lights.
Even at midnight, the city was positively buzzing with life.
One person who would usually be appreciating the lights and bright colours was Phil Lester, but right now, he wasn't bothered about sparkly things and scenery because he was too engrossed in his fascinating conversation with his best friend, Dan Howell.
Dan and Phil had just returned from an enjoyable night out and were now travelling home in a taxi, talking about anything and everything. The taxi driver was probably fed up of their constant chatter, but he couldn't complain – he was getting paid for it, after all.
Phil's eyes were awake as ever, his bright blue irises staring across to Dan as he told an interesting tale of another weird incident that had happened with a stranger. Phil always had a habit of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, which resulted in some rather eccentric stories.
As he told his tale, the lights from outside reflected off his glasses and onto Dan's face, creating a music-video-like effect.
But this story isn't about lights, reflections and Phil being awkward – this story is about Dan.
Dan had an unbelievable connection with his best friend and housemate, and this night, all he could think about was how far they'd come together. Who would have thought that his 'Hello Internet' and Phil's Video Blog from 2006 would have landed them here?
Dan laughed as his friend finished his story, though he hadn't really been listening: it was too hard to concentrate with those huge eyes gazing at him with that air that they always had: a look of delight and excitement over the smallest of things. Dan would never tire of seeing that smile – it would always cheer him up after a long day.
"Hey, Phil, look! We're almost home!" He chirped, cheerily, staring over Phil's shoulder and out of the window.
Phil turned around to see the familiar surroundings of their neighbourhood and smiled wider before he yawned, which made Dan yawn, too.
Dan would be glad to be home: he was exhausted, dehydrated and really needed a lie down. Besides, the sooner he could go to sleep, the sooner he could wake up in the morning and start filming a new video.
"Oh, Dan, I have the best idea for a video!" Phil exclaimed, cheerily, out of the blue, "I almost forgot to tell you!"
"What is it?" Dan asked, his face lighting up in excitement. He was running out of ideas recently and even though Phil made him do the weirdest things in his videos sometimes, he hadn't uploaded in months and he was getting desperate.
"I'll tell you when we get home," Phil replied, "I'm sure you'll like it; I've been planning it all week."
"Can't wait to hear it," Dan smiled, eagerly, "You always have the best video ideas."
"Thanks, Dan-," Phil started, but suddenly his grin fell to a frown and he cocked his head to the side as if he was listening for something, "Do you hear that?" He asked.
"Hear what?" Dan asked.
"That beeping. Really loud."
"Have you got tinitus, Phil?"
"No, just listen," Phil replied, "It's like a siren."
Dan listened. He could hear it, too.
"Oh, Phil!" He laughed, "Aren't you precious? That's an ambulance – haven't you ever heard an ambulance before?"
"Funny – it's just really loud," Phil said, not smiling at Dan's reply. He seemed concerned about something, "It sounds like it's coming from the left, but there's no road to the left…"
He was right, too. They were travelling along a lengthy, straight stretch of road with no turnings to the left or to the right. There was no way anything could be approaching them from the sides.
"You're probably just too tired and deluded to think straight," Dan grinned, "You'd better go to bed as soon as we get home or you'll start seeing things, too."
Phil still didn't smile.
The siren got louder as Phil's eyes grew wider in what seemed less like concern and more like fear. This was when Dan realised that something was definitely wrong: Phil wasn't just looking at him – he was looking through him.
"Come on, calm down, mate, it's just a-"
"DAN!" Phil yelled, his usually deep voice getting strangely high and his eyes watering in horror as he stared past Dan and out of the taxi window behind him.
Dan turned around in time to see two bright lights speeding towards him. He didn't see anything after that, as his vision blacked out to the sound of his best friend's desperate cries of dread.