Dan moved silently and cautiously to the front door of his house – he didn't want his aunt to wake up and hear him leaving. He'd woken up early today, which surprised him, considering he hadn't fallen asleep until around 4 am. He'd tried, of course, to go to sleep earlier, but the constant groaning from upstairs had made it a bit difficult. Then again, the definition of early depended on whom you asked, and if you asked him, 12 pm was plenty early enough.
Dan eased the door open, hinges protesting loudly, and then quickly slipped outside and slammed it shut. She couldn't yell at him now, so what did he care if it woke her up? Grinning slightly at his small rebellion, he slouched his way down the middle of the street, in the vague direction of the local park. He'd brought his laptop with him, just in case, and he hoped he could finish the play he was working on for his drama classes' end of year project. He had really tried to write something happy and upbeat this time, but no luck. As the play progressed, it was growing steadily darker and gloomier until it eventually it had morphed into it's current state: a black comedy. Heavy on the dark side, less so on the comedy. At the moment, it was hovering on the edges of dismal and cheerless, which wasn't exactly what he had been aiming for.
Humming the song Toxic under his breath, and lost in a cloud of thought, Dan stopped paying attention to where he was walking. Having walked this way a thousand times before, he wasn't too concerned about where he was walking until ~CRACK~ He smashed into a tree.
"Ah! What the hell!? Where the fuck did that come from?!" Dan yelped, lying in a heap on the ground, his laptop lying safely beside him in a pile of leaves. Disoriented and dazed, Dan tried to reorganize the fractured view he had of the world. Everything was tilting, and it felt as though someone had lodged a splinter in his brain. Groaning, Dan rolled onto his side.
"Erm, d'you need some help?" asked a mysterious voice, floating somewhere above his head. Confused, Dan sat up noticed a black-haired boy, not much older than himself, staring down at him with a half smile and concern.
"Oh great, someone saw that. That's just wonderful. Thank you, world, for making me walk into a tree… Again. "
Scooping up his laptop with one hand and reaching for the unknown boys outstretched hand with the other, Dan heaved himself upright. Swaying slightly for a moment, Dan grabbed onto the tree trunk and leaned against it for support.
"Thanks, I guess." He said finally, "Sorry you had to see the failure that is my life." Dan quirked his mouth into a wry smile and added "Hope you enjoyed the show, I'll be back next Thursday."
The stranger looked startled for a moment, then started to laugh. "I'll keep that in mind" he said, "My names Phil, by the way. Nice to meet you…?" The stranger trailed off, waiting expectantly for an answer.
"Oh, yeah, right, hi. I'm Dan. Daniel. Dan." He replied, feeling awkward and muddled, wanting be anywhere but there. He ducked his head and started to walk unsteadily away, hoping that Phil wouldn't follow. Unfortunately he did, jogging a few steps to catch up.
"So, are you sure you're okay?" Inquired Phil, looking mildly concerned, "I mean, you did walk into that tree pretty hard and you're walking a bit, um, oddly."
Annoyed, Dan stopped and turned around to face him, saying as he did so "Yeah, Phil, I'm fine. Listen, I really just want to go, I'm sorry to be rude and everything but I don't feel like talking, okay?" Dan spun around again, feeling dizzy, and started walking faster.
"Are you sure?" Phil called after him, "because your forehead is bleeding! "
Dan stopped abruptly, and his hand slowly crawled up his face to his forehead, where it met with a warm liquid slowly flowing down his cheek.
"… Shit. Shit shit shit shit! Oh my god, my head is bleeding!" Dan cried out, frantically searching his pockets for a Band-Aid, a piece of cloth, something to just stop the bleeding! Noticing Dan's panic, Phil reached into his pocket and pulled out... A leaf.
"Oh well, good enough", he thought, walking up to Dan and offering it to him.
"I thought you might need something, to, you know, um, wipe away the blood..." Phil explained, looking a bit apprehensive and holding out the leaf.
Dan looked at it for a moment, then shrugged and said "Oh what the hell." He grabbed the leaf and placed it on his cut, which had thankfully stopped oozing blood and was now starting to crust over with dried blood.
"Thanks." Dan muttered, feeling even more awkward now that his panic attack was over.
"Yeah, no problem." replied Phil, still looking worried. "Listen, I know you just want to go but I really think you should get that checked out. I can take you to the doctors if you want."
"Oh gee, thanks, but I really should get going… Late for lunch or... Something." Feeling uncomfortable, Dan looked at his shoes, hoping a hole would suddenly appear that he could disappear into and never be found again. Daring a quick glance up, he saw Phil writing something down on a scrap piece of paper. Phil handed him the paper, then said "Call me when you get home for lunch… or something. I want to make sure you get there safe and don't walk into any more trees." Phil smiled at him, and forced the piece of paper into Dan's unresponsive hand.
"It was nice meeting you Daniel!" He called out, walking backwards across the street to keep Dan in view for as long as possible. "Please call!" With that, Phil spun around, turned the corner, and disappeared from sight.
"Bye Phil." Dan said belatedly, still a bit stunned from walking into the tree. He looked down at the piece of paper in his hand, and noticed an untidy number scrawled across the top of it, along with Phil's name and a memo saying "Call!"
Looking around, Dan noticed a lot of people looking at him curiously and he remembered the leaf stuck on his forehead along with the large cut and who knew what else. Cringing, Dan half ran to the nearest Starbucks, which thankfully was only half a block away. He bolted into the bathroom, apologizing to the barista on the way, and promptly locked himself in. Staring at his refection in the mirror, he contemplated what to do next.
~Hey guys, sorry for taking a week to write a new chapter :/ I did, however, write a little side story that's completely unrelated (shameless self-promotion!) So if you want to check that out :D In other news, I hope to update reguleraly but I'm a bit.. Erm, let's say.. Forgetful.. So please don't kill me with a rusty spoon if I take more than exactly seven days! You have seven days.. Before Samara kills you... Heheh, anyways review and give me suggestions or whatever else you want to about the where this story should go ect. ect. May you be blessed with waffles and unicorns, love from ye olde Canada xD~
