"Rosa, don't be so dramatic! It's just a precaution." Kate informed Dan and Phil to put their minds at ease.
"Kate, please step out into the hallway a moment." Rosa hissed at Kate. Kate looked scared as she followed out into the hall. Dan and Phil were left alone in the sudden silence when Phil's phone began to vibrate and roar. It was a private caller, Phil noted before he placed the phone to his ear.
"Hello?" He asked conversational. It was all unbearably quiet on the other end of the line. Until...
"'Now and then I think of when we were together.'" It was a recording of a song that sent panic to Phil's heart and shivers up his spine and neck. "'Like when you said you felt so happy you could die.'"
"No." Phil whispered as a voice that filled him with dread began to sing along.
"'Told myself that you were right for me. I felt so lonely in your company.'" The voice sneered as the song went on.
"Zachary?" Phil choked out in fear.
"'But that was love and it's an ache I still remember.'" The recording was stopped then a cold, dark voice growled. "Do you still feel my ache on you, Philly?" Phil hit end and threw his phone to the floor; but it was an unbreakable, resistant case so it just bounced up then laid still. But Phil could still hear Zachary's laugh ringing in his ears like that horrible song.
"Phil, who the hell was that?" Dan asked from the bed. But Phil didn't hear him as he ran out of the room. Phil didn't see where he was going or how close he was to running the weak and injured over. All he saw and felt was Zachary's presence. He had to get away, he had to hide. He had to go home. He got outside the hospital and began pacing. Every face looked like Zachary's, every voice was his, everyone and everything reminded Phil of his haunter, his nightmare.
"Phil?" Someone asked, placing a hand on his shoulder. Phil jumped then went to punch Zachary, but it was only PJ.
"PJ!" Phil recognized and set his hand down. "I'm sorry." He mumbled as PJ looked at him with alarm. "I don't know what came over me." But his eyes kept shifting to his peripherals to see if Zachary was just out of his vision.
"Phil, you apparently threw your phone on the ground and Dan wanted me to give it back to you." PJ said cautiously, holding the Hello Kitty cased phone out to Phil. Phil looked at it fearfully, as if it might bite him. Maybe it already had. But he took it back and thanked PJ for returning it to him. "Yeah sure, no problem." PJ shrugged but then grew serious. "Are you sure you're okay? You look like you've seen a ghost." PJ pointed out.
"More like a demon." Phil muttered to himself.
"What?" PJ asked, unsure if he had heard right.
"Nothing, tell Dan I'll talk to him later. Okay?" Phil requested but he walked away before he got an answer.
"Okay." PJ mumbled after Phil. Something was bothering Phil, PJ thought, anyone with eyes could see that; but it seemed to turn Phil gray compared to the living surrounding him. PJ wondered if Phil would ever really be okay again, after what happened to him and now, what happened to Dan...
Phil was walking alone in the rainy gloom thinking, just as Dan had the night before. But his thoughts were consumed by someone he now feared and not adored.
Zachary? Back? After all this time of quiet and, somewhat, peace? Phil had known he would, but then, why did it surprise Phil so much? He suddenly found himself walking up some marble stairs. He looked up and saw it was the police department. He walked inside to get out of the rain, partly. He walked up to the secretary behind the main desk and waited.
"Hello, how can I help you?" She drawled in a lazy Scottish accent.
"Yes, I'm Phil Lester and I'd like to report a rape." Phil announced. She looked up in shock but covered it up with a cough.
"Well, I'm sure I can get someone to take your report shortly; please take a seat, Mr. Lester." She motioned to the leather chairs in the waiting area.
Phil sat and tried to relax and read a National Geography that was made a few years before he was born, but his mind kept racing and reading made his brain hurt. But he remained in his outdated armchair until someone called 'Mr. Lester?' Which caused him to rise from his chair and follow the short skirted woman down a cement, white hall and into a small gray carpeted room with two plastic, gray chairs and a matching table.
"Officer Rogan will be with you momentarily." She stated motioning for him to sit down then left him. Shortly there after, a balding, muscular, but beer bellied officer came in with a clipboard, papers and a comforting smile.
"Hello Mr. Lester, I'm Officer Rogan." He stated as he held out his hand to Phil. Phil shook it and both sat once more. "So, someone tells me you have a story to tell?" Rogan notes, getting his papers ready to take notes and make a report; Phil nods unsure. "You can begin when ready." Rogan offers when he has clicked his pen and hovers it above the clean, unblemished surface of the paper. Phil nods again and tries to find his voice. He had lost his voice for three months the last time he had had contact with Zachary; now, how long would it take him to loosen his tongue without Dan around?
Wait, Dan. That was it!
Dan was the one who had got Phil to talk so easily the first time around so, why not again?
"Mr. Rogan, would it be alright if I called someone and tell them my story while you listen?" Phil inquired. Officer Rogan looked taken aback. He had been on the squad for twenty, maybe thirty, some odd years now, and he had never heard of such an odd request.
"If, that's what makes you more comfortable..." He reasoned while Phil pulled his phone out and dialed.
"Hello?" Dan asked, he sounded tired.
"Hey, are you busy?" Phil questioned, now remembering that Dan was suppose to be interrogated himself.
"Nah, Miss Detective and Clipboard just left. What's up?" Dan seemed to brighten to hear Phil wanted to taught to him.
"I was wondering if I could tell you what happened with my... Incident so I could report it to Mr. Rogan." Dan was quite for a minute then said
"Of course Phil." Phil smiled and put Dan on speaker phone.
"You're on speaker." Phil informed Dan.
"Hi Mr. Rogan!" Dan yelled, which wasn't necessary.
"Hello Mr...?" He looked to Phil for help.
"Dan Howell." Phil informed him. "Everyone ready?" He joked.
"Let me get the popcorn." Dan jested back. They were trying to make light of a very dark situation, Rogan realized as Phil took a deep breathe.
"I was at my house getting ready for a Buffy Marathon with my boyfriend." He began softly.
…..
"Philly, I'm home!" Zachary called from the front door.
"Great, I'm in the bathroom!" Phil called from the in front of the bathroom mirror. He heard Zachary approaching and felt a smile creep onto his face.
"I got you something today." Zachary peeked his face around the door and smiled, holding out a shop's bag. Zachary swiped his ginger hair away from his green eyes to watch Phil better as Phil took the bag and began to open it excitedly. Zachary bit his lip with his crooked teeth as Phil pulled out some handcuffs. Phil looked confusedly at them.
"Babe, what are these for?" Phil asked looking at Zachary. The smile that spread across Zachary's face, still sends chills up Phil's arms and neck.
"Just a little game I want to play, later." Zachary explained, fingering the cuffs in Phil's hands lightly.
"Later as in, never?" Phil wondered as his tossed them aside and pushed past Zachary.
"Philly, don't be like that!" Zachary requested as Phil slammed the door to their bedroom shut. This had made Zachary very, very mad. He walked out of the bathroom, into the living turned the stereo up to it's maximum level and blasted what he called 'their song': 'Somebody That I Used to Know'. Then he had walked into the kitchen and grabbed a knife before sauntering back down the hall towards the closed bedroom door.
"'You can get addicted to a certain kind of sadness.'" He had sung as he knocked on the door politely, even as a frown was plastered onto his face.
"Turn it down, Zachary, or the neighbors will call the cops." Phil ordered from the bedroom.
"'So when we found that we could not make sense. Well you said that we'd still be friends.'" Zachary had begun to knock louder and louder until the music couldn't be heard. He had kicked down the door. "'But I'll admit that I was glad that it was over.'" He had Phil locked eyes in a sure kind of understanding.
Zachary's said 'I'm going to hurt you beyond repair.'
Phil's: 'Not if I can escape you first.'
The music kept blaring as Zachary chased Phil. Phil had waited until Zachary came to his side of the bed before climbing over it and leaping into the hallway. But Zachary had grabbed his ankle in mid air, which sent them both to the wooden floor. Zachary had regained his balance first and jumped to his feet while Phil was still on the ground. Zachary had grabbed Phil's ankles and dragged him back into the bedroom. Phil yelled for help but the music overpowered all.
"'But you didn't have to cut me off!'" Zachary dragged and pulled Phil onto the bed. "'Make out like it never happened and we were nothing!'" Phil's hands were cuffed to the metal headboard of the bed. Phil stopped struggling as Zachary wiped his sweaty hair away from his eyes and whispered into Phil's ear "Now the real fun begins." He had ripped off Phil's pants in one motion.
"'And I don't even need your love! But you treat me like a stranger and that feels so rough.'" Phil was lying on his stomach, crying into the pillow; begging for someone to come. But the only one who was ready to come was the one getting into position behind Phil. "'No you didn't have to stoop so low.'" Zachary plunged himself into Phil to which Phil screamed bloody murder but all anyone heard was "'Have you friends collect your records and then change your number. I guess that I don't need that though.'" Zachary slapped Phil's butt over and over as he pushed further and further inside of him. "'Now you're just somebody that I used to know!'" Zachary and Gotye screamed at Phil. Eventually, Phil knew he would die there. The song was on an endless loop, as was Zachary, until the police came and pulled him off Phil and took Phil away.
And Phil had been left numb, scared, and speechless until Dan had come along.
…..
"And that's my story." Phil finished, fighting back the lump in his throat. Everyone was quite.
"I'll find this guy." Rogan promised before leaving the room.
"Phil?" Dan asked from the phone.
"Yeah Dan?" Phil replied.
"I'm proud of you." Dan offered.
"Me too." Phil affirmed.