Chapter 26: It's finally over

Dan stared out the window, heart racing as he watched the events unfold. They were all there now, every single one of them. He could see that Phil had been correct; at least 3 of them went to their school, all though Dan didn't know any of them. They weren't the usual tormentors. He had a feeling some of them were in sixth form to, but he couldn't be sure. He didn't pay much attention to the others, apart from to ask himself why are people we don't even speak to at school out there? Do people just enjoy watching others terrified, watching other people hurt? He just didn't understand why people that had nothing to do with them, people who had never said one word to them, would be doing this. He didn't even understand why people at school were horrible to them in the first place. He couldn't understand what Owens problem was. That was who Dan was paying attention to. He was watching Owen. He was watching the knife.

Phil ran through the corridor, banging on every door. He reached the end of the corridor, and spun around. Where was Lucy and Oliver? He had to get to them first. They were the youngest, they wouldn't be able to protect themselves, they wouldn't know what to do. He yelled loudly "Lucy! Oliver!" and started to run back the way he had come. He had just reached Oliver's room again when they burst out of the bathroom, grinning widely. Lucy asked innocently "What do you want Phil?" but he didn't reply. He just grabbed them roughly by the arms and started dragging them up the stairs. He heard Oliver whimper "Phil, you're hurting me!" and Phil realised what he had done. He stopped and let go. This was not going to help; this was just going to make this worse for them. He took a deep breath, and tried to sound calm, but even he could hear the shake in his voice. "There's, um… there's people outside, ok? Everything's going to be fine, but we need to get everyone together in one room, just to make sure." They both nodded and ran up the stairs without another word, Phil following closely behind them. Normally the others all stayed in their rooms apart from to come downstairs to eat, so he hoped today would not be any different. They quickly reached the middle floor, and Lucy and Oliver banged loudly on Emily's door while Phil did the same on Jays.

She opened the door after a few seconds and Phil could tell that she was fuming. "Phil what the-" she started but Phil interrupted her quickly. "Jay, there are people outside" he lowered his voice quickly so that Oliver and Lucy wouldn't hear "with weapons, ok? We all need to get in the same room, we need to stay together." She raised an eyebrow and sighed "whatever." And she started to close the door. Phil quickly put his foot in the way and hissed "Jay, I am not joking. Why would I? Dave is outside trying to protect us, and I will not let him get fucking hurt for nothing." She raised an eyebrow and swung the door open again before saying "You. Cursed. Phil Lester cursed. OK, I believe you." He just sighed and headed towards Emily's room. She was arguing with Oliver and Lucy, but Phil was not going to waste anymore time. He glared at her for a second before saying "Emily. I am not lying, and neither are they. If we do not get everyone together, someone could get hurt. Do as I say." She stared at him for a moment before glancing at her sister and sighing. She motioned for them to go, and the five of them quickly reached the top floor, with Emily muttering the whole way. "If you're joking Lester…" Phil ignored her.

"You guys get Zeena, she won't argue. I'll get Jake. When you've got Zeena go straight into my room. Don't wait for us." He saw Emily raise an eyebrow and he explained quickly "We need to know what's going on and my room has the best view of the front." She nodded, and without saying another word, walked towards Zeena's room. Oliver and Lucy followed, but he grabbed Jay's arm before she could. He whispered urgently "Don't let Ollie and Luce watch, it'll just scare them." She nodded quickly before asking timidly "Is it really that bad?" He just nodded before letting go and running to Jake's door.

When Jake opened the door, Phil felt that familiar rush of anger, the one he always tried to repress. He couldn't stop thinking about how most of the people out there knew Jake, were friends with him. Phil didn't care that Jake probably didn't even know what was going on. He just hissed at him "Your friends are outside with knifes so we all need to get into my room. Now." Jake stepped out immediately, but instead of walking to Phil's room, he stopped. He turned to Phil and just said simply "Tell me." Phil sighed and gave him a condensed version. "Owen followed me and Dan home. All of them are out there, and Owen has a knife. Dave's outside trying to stop them from coming in." He watched as something, Phil was unsure what, dawned on his face. When he spoke again, he sounded furious much to Phil's surprise. "IDIOTS! Why would they… right. I have to stop them. I will not let them hurt any of you." Without another word, he turned around and darted down the stairs. Phil considered following him for a moment, but he decided against it. It may sound cold, but he had to protect as many people as he could. He couldn't try to stop Jake and put the others at risk. They wouldn't hurt him anyway, would they?

Dan opened the window a crack, desperate to hear what was going on. They were all stood around, and Owen seemed to be saying something to Dave. Before he had a chance to listen, Sam ran past him in a whirlwind of action. He was out the front door before Dan could do anything. He didn't know what to do. Should he go out and help? What was Jake doing anyway? He was drawn out of his thoughts by Jakes voice. "What are you doing!?" Jake yelled "This is my house, my family! How dare you? What is your problem." He heard people yelling back, the noise overlapping and creating a mess which was hard to understand. He caught little snippets, stuff like "What's up Jake? You sound like a poof. Ahh Jakey, do you have a crush on the old dude? Ha, family, he doesn't have one! They don't want him." Dan felt anger slowly boiling inside him. He didn't know why Jake was doing this, but he already knew that nothing was going to happen to Jake or Dave. He wouldn't let it. He caught a glimpse of something out of the window that knocked the breath out of him as though he had been physically kicked. He felt cold all over, and his heart which had been pounding came to a sudden and painful stop. He saw the glint of metal near Dave, he saw the contact on skin and he saw the scarlet blood. He was shaking and the whole world was spinning, twisting, turning and Dan felt as though he should be sprawled on the floor. Instead, he was running out the front door.

Phil was the pressed against the glass of his window, trying to ignore his reflection that was staring back at him. Red rimmed eyes, sickly pale skin contrasting with the messy black hair. He looked how he felt. Terrified. People were jostling, trying to get better views of what was going on, but he wasn't going to move. He had to watch, no matter how much he hated it. He had to make sure everyone was ok. It was like when you watch a horror film, and your terrified and worried and grossed out, but you can't take your eyes away. His heavy breathing was fogging up the window and he wiped it away, agitated. He couldn't make out much, the sky was darkening. He could see silhouettes, abstract shapes. The one closest to the door had to be Dave, and he was almost certain the one closest to him was Owen. Suddenly he saw the glint of the knife. Definitely Owen. He was waving his arms around, he seemed to be saying something. Not saying, shouting. He suddenly felt something crash into his back and pull on his shoulders. Before he had time to register what was happening, Lucy was watching over his shoulder. He shook her off immediately, but it was still too late. She fell to the floor and stared up at him, tears in her eyes, and whispered "was that a…" Phil looked at her pleadingly before looking anxiously over at Oliver. She understood right away, and just crawled quickly over to his pile of soft toys. It took him a moment to realise what she was doing. She pulled the cat out and crawled to her corner like she always did. She didn't whisper to it though, or try to brush its fur. She just cuddled it into her chest and bent her head over it. After a few seconds, Phil heard the broken sobs escape her lips. He knew suddenly, he didn't know how, but he did. He knew he needed to comfort her, to help her, not watch. It's what Dan would want. He wouldn't want him to terrify himself by watching the events unfold below. He'd want him doing what he thought he did best. Care.

He walked over to her, and slumped next to her, using the wall for the support he so desperately needed. He wrapped an arm around and whispered quietly "its fine Lucy, everything's going to be fine." He looked up to see Oliver staring at them intently, confused, tears slowly running down his face. Phil smiled slightly. Oliver had always been one to care too much, a bit like Phil really. He often started crying when he saw others upset, before he even knew the problem. He lifted his other arm, inviting Oliver over. He darted across the room quickly, sliding under the arm, and Phil pulled him close. He kept up a quiet stream of comfort. "It's going to be fine, it'll be over soon, everything will go back to normal. We're safe, everything's fine, it's all going to be fine." He was interrupted by Oliver looking up at him, wide eyed and wet faced, asking him quietly "Promise?". Phil pulled them both into a tighter hug, but didn't reply.

He was soon darting from the room however. The others were still watching, giving a commentary on what was happening outside. Phil wasn't listening, he didn't want to know. However, three simple words got his attention and had him running for the front door.

"Dan's out there."

Dan had just ran outside, and he realised he didn't have a clue what to do. He stood frozen on the top stair, the noise hitting him. People were shouting, screaming. He remembered what had made him come out, and his head snapped quickly to Dave. He was stood straight, yelling at Owen, but he was clutching his arm tightly to his chest. He took a quick step forward, unsure what to do. He couldn't focus, couldn't think. All the noise and the adrenaline was just making everything a huge jumbled mess in his mind and he couldn't think couldn't stop couldn't breathe couldn't stay calm couldn't stop everything from spinning and turning and… Then Phil came up behind him. He placed a hand on Dan's shoulder, and he relaxed. His chest loosened and his mind became clear again. They glanced at each other before quickly and determinately walking to Dave. They had another time to register that there was a lot of blood before the flashing lights and sirens span round the corner.

They watched from upstairs as a group of policemen rounded up all of them, hand cuffing them, identifying them and shoving them roughly into the back of vans and cars. Of course they all tried to run, to hide, but the police had surprised them. They managed to catch them all quickly without too much hassle. Turns out, not only did Owen have a knife, but someone else had a crow bar and many of them were carrying what the police called 'offensive weapons' that would normally be looked over. Stuff that suited a house setting, like peelers and scissors. As they all watched, they all wanted to do the same thing, but they knew they had to wait. They watched, and glanced over at Oliver and Lucy every now and then. They knew that they owed Phil, that things might have gone different if he hadn't cared so much. They knew they had to return the favour. They knew he wouldn't want Lucy and Oliver out there until it was safe.

As they rounded them all up, Dan and Phil slowly started to asses Dave's injury. He had a large gash on his arm, but that was it. In an attempt to try and calm them down he said jovially "I'm an easy bleeder." The smile disappeared off his face when he saw the look he received. They peeled off his jacket, which was already covered in blood, and used it to put pressure on the wound, the whole time Dan making sure he didn't stare at the one pale scar that crossed his wrist.

Eventually all the police were gone, and they grabbed Lucy and Oliver, dragging them out of the room. They quickly reached the front door and flung it open, running out into the cold night air.

They carried on putting pressure on the wound, waiting for the ambulance that the detectives had called before they left to arrive. Dave had been adamant that he didn't need one, but one of the policemen had convinced him he would need a few stitches and it was better to do it now than when he was weak from blood loss. Suddenly, they felt a wall push against them, and turned just in time to see the faces of the others before they were enveloped in a giant hug. They were all there, and they were all crying silently. They all had huge grins on their faces, and their eyes were bright with that happy feeling you get after a bad thing, when you think everything's ok again. Before you know that good things don't last, especially when you had the luck of most of these kids.

As they were enveloped in the warm embrace, everyone laughing hysterically, Dan's eyes met Phil's. They stared into each other's eyes for a long minute, basking in the happiness they felt. They were both still here. They hadn't lost each other. They hadn't lost anyone in this mismatched family of theirs. They thought about Jake, and realised that they'd actually been bought closer to their family. Fresh tears welled in Phil's eyes as he whispered, pure happiness showing through his voice "It's finally over."

Dan tried to ignore the voice in the back of his head taunting him.

Things are never going to go your way. You're never going to be happy. You're going to lose him.