Chapter 9

Phil's POV

I can't help but stare at Dan. It's like I can't wrap my head around the idea that he isn't gone forever. Light flowed in from a frosted window and I could fully see his face since last night when I was thrown in here. He had dark shadows under his eyes from lack of sleep and dark circles around them that was probably from a fist. His nose looked like it could be broken with a slight notch in the center, and he had a large cut right below his left eyebrow down to his cheek. It looked like it would need stitches, not that I'm a doctor or anything. His hair was dirty and greasy and curled from the lack of a straightener. I'm sure I don't look much better.

He noticed me staring. "Yeah, I know Phil. I look completely awful. It's what happens when you've been kidnapped and locked in a shed for more than a week." My mouth turned down into a frown. He should know by now that looks don't matter to me, but I guess he has perfectly good reason to be irritable. I guess I do too.

I turned away and let my mind wander. I wonder what is going through people's minds at the moment. I can only guess if they know that I'm gone or not. But if I'm being realistic, my friends probably don't. I've been ignoring all calls and texts so why would it seem any different now when I don't answer?

"What was that?" I turned to see Dan looking at me questioningly. I raised my eyebrows in confusion.

"What was what?" I asked.

"You said something." He replied in a soft voice like he was afraid of the man overhearing our conversation. Did I say something? I must have been thinking out loud without realizing it.

"Oh. I was just thinking out loud I guess." I answered. To my surprise he continued to look at me, signaling to keep talking. So far he hadn't been much for conversation. Maybe that was normal in this circumstance. "I was just thinking that nobody knows I'm gone yet."

Dan looked thoughtful for a moment. "Someone would have noticed. I mean, you answer to things on twitter and answer texts and emails all the time."

I cringed a bit. That was exactly the opposite of what I had been doing. "Actually Dan, I had sort of cut almost all communication with everyone…you know, after you had disappeared." I looked over to see his facial expression, as his feelings were usually written all over his face. But this time I couldn't tell what he was thinking. His expression was guarded, and I don't know, it made me feel a little sad to know that he had shut a part of himself away that we never felt the need to hide from each other before.

"Oh." He replied with an equally confusing tone. I wish I knew what was running through his head right now. "Do you want to know what I'm thinking about right now?" he asked, practically reading my thoughts. I nodded. He sighed, looking dejected. "I'm wondering what the point of all of this is. I mean, why did this happen to us? What is the man's purpose? How did he even know where we live?"

I shivered from equal parts cold, as it was freezing and was probably snowing outside, and fear at just thinking about that awful man. "I don't know," I whispered. It was a scary thought to contemplate. Did he just want to have 'fun' with us and kill us just because we were two random people? Or was this more than that? "He could've figured out where we lived from our videos though." I really don't want to think that any one of our viewers is a stalker, but that would definitely be the easiest way to tell where our apartment was.

I could see Dan shiver too. "Do you really think that our subscribers are capable of that?" I swallowed heavily. Theoretically it could happen, but the implications of that are awful. I mean, we share our lives to people on the Internet to provide enjoyment and happiness to someone's life. We both love to read the comments telling us that a certain video made someone's day. But if this was the consequence of it, I don't want to ever be near a camera again.

"I hope not." I answered. Just thinking that one of our fans could have done this to us- betrayed us – filled my heart with sadness. I looked to my right to see the same look of pain I'm sure was mirrored on my face.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts. I needed to stay positive or I would give up. And I can't do that now that I've promised Dan. "What's the first thing you want to do when we get out of here?" It was the first thing that had popped into my mind.

"I don't know, Phil, probably go to the hospital." I smiled a little to myself. This was Dan and his normal sarcastic self.

"No, I mean what do you want to do?"

He quieted. I could tell he was deep in thought by the way his eyebrows scrunched up. He spoke up after about a minute of silence. "Probably look at tumblr. Maybe twitter." I giggled at his response. He looked a little happier hearing my laugh. "Sink into my browsing position. I'm pretty sure my couch crease misses me." This sent me into a laughing fit. Out of everything he wanted to do he picked the internet. Just so…Dan-ish. He started laughing as well. For a minute we were teleported out of this nightmare into normal life. We could ignore the way our laugh hurt injures because we were just being Dan and Phil.

I had to gasp for breath. Maybe it wasn't even that funny. It was just such a normal response and it felt so good to hear my best friend having a little bit of fun in this terrible situation.

We eventually calmed down. Transported back into reality but it wasn't as bad as before. "You know what I want to do?"

He smiled the tiniest bit. "What?"

"I want to go outside." Dan looked at me incredulously, raising both eyebrows.

"Did I hear you right? Did you just say you want to go outside? Are you ill, Phil?"

I giggled quietly. "No! I just want to actually enjoy being able to feel the wind without any closed in spaces." I thought about walking down the sidewalk wistfully. My hands weren't tied behind my back then and I wasn't trapped.

"Yeah, that actually does sound nice," he agreed. The corners of my lips turned up. It was so ironic. The one time we want to go outside in our lives and we can't.

We talked until our throats were sore. The man didn't come at all throughout the day. I thought that was a good sign but Dan seemed worried. It didn't last long though, because even though we were both starving and parched, we had each other and for now it was enough.