The elevator door slid open with a ding! and Phil stepped into the office. He walked towards his desk, passing other desks occupied by men and women in white collared shirts, sitting in swivel chairs and busy doing the same boring paperwork Phil had been doing for the past year. None of them looked up as Phil passed. Nobody said ''good morning'' or even a simple greeting. That wasn't anything new, though.

Phil sighed as he got to his own desk and performed the monotonous daily routine. He put down his bag, sat in his chair and reluctantly pulled the pile of forms and memos on his desk towards him. He craned his head to the left towards Patrick's desk, to share a gloomy look of boredom like they always did.

Patrick's chair was empty, and his desk was bare.

Phil's eyebrows knitted together in confusion. Where was Patrick? Maybe he moved, Phil thought. He could have gotten moved downstairs. But that didn't make sense. Downstairs was a whole different department. No, Phil decided, he couldn't have been moved. So where the hell was he? Then it hit him. Patrick had probably been fired.

Phil's heart sank. The only person he considered to be a friend in this hellhole was gone. He turned back to his own desk, staring dumbly at his pens and papers, trying to process this.

''Hey, where's weirdo number two?''

''The old bird sacked him this morning, did you not see it?''

Phil snapped out of his daze to listen intently to the gossiping workers behind him.

''No, I wasn't in till nine.''

''Oh shit, you should have seen it. Hilarious. He just dropped a stapler, and she went ballistic. Screaming and shouting at him to pack his stuff and go. He went all red and teary-eyed, it was hilarious.''

''Ha! I have to start coming in earlier, I always miss the good stuff.''

Phil pulled himself away from the conversation. He didn't want to hear anymore. Poor Patrick. He didn't deserve to be let go. Guilt swelled like a balloon inside of Phil, floating up to his throat and forming a lump there. If Phil hadn't been late, he would have been targeted easily by the boss. Phil would have been fired instead of Patrick. Phil hated his job, and it showed through his poor work performance. Patrick didn't like it either, but at least he was good at it. Phil should have been fired instead of Patrick. But because of Phil's consistent sloppiness, Patrick had lost his job, and his only source of income. Patrick was now unemployed, during a recession, and it was all Phil's fault.

He closed his eyes in shame and took a moment to revel at what a horrible person he was. Then, with a deep sigh, he got back to work.

The same monotonous work routine continued throughout the day, this time with added loneliness. Phil had nobody to chat with during his break, nobody to sit with at lunch. Nobody even looked at him. He felt like a child again, wandering the playground alone.

By the time he got home, he was exhausted. He wanted nothing more than to just curl up in his bed and pass out. But when he opened his bedroom door to collapse onto his bed, he found that there was already someone on it.

Someone with brown hair and big, bright, brown eyes.

Phil stared at him. Dan stared right back. They maintained eye contact for a moment, before Phil opened his mouth and let out a yell.

Dan's eyes widened suddenly and he yelped, startled by Phil's shouting. He jumped off the bed hurriedly.

''Phil! Phil, calm down!'' Dan took a step towards him, but Phil backed away quickly, his back pressing up against the bedroom door.

''No, no! Stay back!'' he said shakily. He was breathing heavily, his eyes wide with shock.

''It's ok, come on, I'm not gonna hurt you.'' Dan said. He sounded nonchalant, but Phil could hear the slight hurt in his voice.

Phil tried to compose himself. He closed his eyes for a moment, tried to slow his breathing down. He didn't really know what he would find when he opened his eyes. Logically, Dan should be gone, and he can wave off this little blip in his sanity as fatigue. If Dan was still there, then, well, he was probably insane.

He opened his eyes slowly.

Dan stood in his bedroom, looking at Phil concernedly.

Yep, he was insane.

''Oh god, I'm insane.'' Phil whispered to himself.

''Well you sure are acting like it,'' Dan commented.

''I need to sit down,'' Phil muttered. He wasn't sure if he was talking to himself or to Dan.

Dan stepped aside as Phil staggered over to his bed and sat down heavily. He breathed out slowly.

There was a long silence.

''Sooo...'' Dan started.

Phil looked up at him slowly.

Dan had changed over the years. He was much, much taller now; just as tall as Phil, maybe even taller. His hair was styled into a messy fringe, and his face had lost the puppy fat he had when he was younger. He stood tall and slim, wearing a T-shirt and skinny jeans. He was like a really hot hallucination.

Phil looked him up and down for a few minutes in disbelief. Then Dan laughed.

''Stop checking me out and close your mouth, perv.''

Phil snapped his jaw shut. He hadn't realised he was staring at Dan with his mouth wide open. He blushed, feeling like an idiot. Then he remembered that Dan was a figment of his imagination. He felt like even more of an idiot.

''I don't understand.''

''You and me both.''

Phil gave Dan a small smile. ''I haven't seen you in so long.''

Dan grinned back, looking relieved that Phil wasn't scared of him anymore. ''I know.''

He stepped tentatively towards the bed, looking to Phil for permission. Phil nodded sharply, feeling a little guilty that Dan had to ask.

Dan sat beside him and they both stared at the door, not saying anything. While Phil was sat in a stunned silence, Dan had started tapping his hands off his legs. Phil smiled at the familiar action.

''Ok.'' Phil sighed. ''You're...here. In my room. When did you get here?''

''I'm not entirely sure. I just woke up here, on your bed, and then you walked in,'' Dan explained.

''Where were you before?'' Phil asked.

Dan shrugged. ''I don't know. It's hard to explain.''

''Try,'' Phil pleaded. He was trying desperately to wrap his head around this bizarre situation.

''Ok, ok. I woke up on your bed, so I guess before that I was asleep. But it wasn't like sleeping, I felt awake, I was aware of everything. I was trapped in this kind of limbo. It was so weird. Like I was just drifting through space.''

''What did it look like?''

''Nothing,'' Dan said simply. ''There was nothing around me. I couldn't even see my own body. I saw you sometimes, though,'' he admitted.

Phil's eyes widened. ''You saw me?'' he questioned.

''Yeah. Just flashes. It would flash in my mind, you sitting at a desk, or you lying in bed, or you on a train. And I got this feeling, too. I was just weighed down by loneliness and depression. It was horrible, but it only lasted a second.''

Flashes of him, living his life. How could Dan see that? This didn't make any sense. It was impossible. Except it had to make sense. How else would Dan know that Phil got the train to work, or that he worked in an office? Maybe his clothes gave it away. But that didn't explain why Dan was actually here in the first place, anyway.

And Dan could feel his feelings. That part was really weird. ''So you saw me...you saw my life. And you felt...sad?'' Phil said.

Dan nodded. ''Yeah. Like, really, really sad. You didn't look too happy, either.'' he added.

Phil sighed. That sounded familiar. He was so miserable all the time. He must look miserable all the time too.

He was brought out of his reverie by Dan yawning loudly.

''Oh god, I'm wrecked.'' he said, stretching his arms above his head.

''Yeah, me too.'' Phil agreed. ''I think I need to sleep...a lot.''

Dan frowned. ''You don't think I'm a hallucination, do you?'' he said, sounding rather offended.

''I don't know, Dan, all I know is that I haven't seen you since I was 8, now you're here in my room after being in some kind of other dimension for about 20 years, and I'm really fucking tired, so if you're still here in the morning, can we just please discuss this then?'' Phil rubbed his eyes tiredly. He couldn't believe he was arguing with his imaginary friend. He felt like an infant, not a 26 year old man.

Dan said nothing, he just smirked impishly at Phil.

''What?'' Phil demanded.

''You swore,'' Dan pointed out. He giggled childishly. ''I've never heard you swear before.''

Phil looked at him, not quite believing what he was hearing. Either Dan was still in the mindset of an 8 year old, or he was just really immature. Probably the latter, Phil thought.

I'm so sorry this chapter took so long! Writer's block and procrastination are a really bad mix.

The story's taking off now, so chapters should be coming more regularly! ^.^ ily all xxx