Louise's voice shocked Phil like cold water when he entered the apartment. "Where have you been?" She exclaimed with her hands on her hips and her nostrils flaring. "I have been waiting and waiting and for what? You to come in here with your puppy dog eyes and a blush in your cheeks and..." Louise stopped herself as she drew closer to Phil. She analyzed Phil like a microscope does an amoeba. Suddenly, her eyes widened and a smile shot across her face like a firework on Bonfire Night. "Shut up!" She smiles, lightly punching Phil in the arm. "Shut up, shut up, shut up." She squeals as she runs around the room as Phil rubs his shoulder (maybe it wasn't a light punch after all).
"What?" Phil asks a little annoyed but causes Louise to stop in her joyful tracks and whip around to see Phil again.
"You're talking again?" She asks cautiously, coming close to him once more. He smiles softly then nods before he answers.
"Yeah." He affirms.
"The reason why wouldn't happen to be of the male persuasion, would it?" She cheekily asks, causing Phil to go beet red, along with the tips of his ears; with tint cherry.
"Possibly." Phil answers softly. Louise squeals again.
"I knew it! Phillip Micheal Lester, I want details NOW!" She orders as she sets him and herself down on the couch. Phil rolls his eyes before telling Louise everything there is to tell about Dan, until he gets to the kiss.
"Louise," Phil speaks softly.
"Yea?" She asks as she grabs her cat covered mug, which is full of tea, from the tabletop.
"He tried to kiss me." Phil breathes out, but he still has some of it caught in his throat and chest. Louise blinks with wide eyes as she sets her mug back down without taking a sip.
"Phil, what happened?" She asks slowly as Phil's eyes well up with tears.
"I thought I saw..." Phil can't bare to say HISname. "HIM when I when to kiss Dan." Louise shakes her head as Phil's facade began to crumble. "So, I slapped Dan by accident to push that asshole away."
"No." Louise gasps as though she has been slapped herself.
"Even when I don't see him, he's still there!" Phil pants and yells into Louise's hug.
"You're haunted, Phil." Louise swallows against her own throat lump as Phil coughs his up. The truth only makes Phil cry harder. "But you still have a chance to not to be, and to help others too." Louise pulls Phil away and looks him in the face. "Phil, you have to go back to the Police and tell them the whole story. It's the only way to make sure he can't hurt you or others anymore. And then, you can haunt him instead."
"Become the haunter instead of the haunted?" Phil thought in hushed tones.
"That would be the idea." Louise agreed. Phil had been in fear of Zachary since that horrible night so long ago. But the idea of revenge was one he had never admitted to anyone, not even himself, but so craved and longed for. But the only way to obtain that satisfaction would be to accuse Zachary of rape and retell his haunting, tragic, nightmare; and most definitely more than once. It would be reliving the horrors on repeat; with Zachary there to watch Phil suffer, all over again.
"I can't." Phil stated at the thought of seeing Zachary's cold eyes once more.
"Phil, if you don't, then he could rape again and haunt someone else, along with you. Because you'll never get over it without going on trial against him." The thought of someone else suffering like Phil was enough convincing for him.
"I'll do it." Phil restated with his change of heart. Louise hugged Phil gentle.
"You'll save so many people, Phil." Louise exhaled sharply; letting tears escape.
"You don't know that." Phil scoffed.
"You're saving yourself, and that's worth a thousand of that bastard." Louise notes as Phil rests his head on her shoulder and looks out at the rainy night, thinking now only of Dan and hoping he had made it home already.
But Dan had not made it home yet.
Dan was still walking in the cold, rainy streets of London. He was thinking like an old friend of his from his childhood did. But, unlike Pooh, he did not have a specific thinking spot; he just liked to wander, think, and worry like Piglet.
Phil had slammed him when he had tried to kiss him, but Phil had also started leaning in before the slap. Or had Dan only imagined it? Did it really matter now? Probably not, it was better to move on anyways. Dan concluded as he reached an alleyway that was a little too close for comfort in way of walls. But every alley was like that to him now. He took another puff from his cigarette before moving on.
The relaxed and gloomy atmosphere was suddenly shattered by a scream.
"Help! Help me please!" It was a man's voice, but high pitched and strained. Dan whipped around a located the scream coming from an alley up the way and across the street. The screams stopped as suddenly as they had started. Dan prayed to all real and non-real deities that he wasn't too late.
He reached the alley and heard a gruff, and horrible voice growl at the young man in his clutches "Try that again, and you'll never see the light of day; ever." Dan's blood went ice cold and his heart stopped when he registered whose voice it was. It was his rapist's voice; dark and familiar because it had haunted him for months. Neither the young man nor the rapist had heard or noticed Dan's presence as the shitty human being pinned the man against the wall just as he had with Dan. Dan was frozen in place as he was watching his incident unfolding in front of his eyes all over again. But as the man began to unbuckle his belt, something snapped inside of Dan.
No. He was NOT going to let this man experience what Dan had and be haunted let he now was. Not. Today.
"Hey!" Dan yelled stepping forwards once more towards the two struggling men. The rapist looked at Dan with fear in his eyes for being caught as the man looked at Dan with grateful hope at being rescued.
"Get away from him, now!" Dan ordered drawing closer even though he was fighting with every fiber in his being to run away. The rapist dropped his grip on the young man who when to ran to Dan. But the rapist was quick and grabbed the man by the arm, twisted it around and onto the younger one's back with one hand and whipped the knife onto his neck with the other. "Stop!" Dan squawked before he could stop himself. Dan had his thumb on the 911 button as the man pressed the knife closer to the man's neck.
"Call the police and they'll have to bring a body bag!" The rapist barked back at Dan. Dan didn't know what to do. He knew this guy didn't fuck around but he also knew that the police would be the only ones who could help.
"Alright, you win." Dan conceded and he placed his phone on the ground, kicked it away from himself and towards the rapist. The rapist grinned evilly and forced the young man forward. The two walked awkwardly with the man's knife to the younger one's throat in a sort of crouched three legged race as the rapist was shorter then the man. Actually, the young man wasn't too much shorter than Dan. They squat walked to the phone, within feet of Dan. The man was about to step and crush the phone, when Dan leaped follow. The man was shocked and went to slide the knife cleanly across the young man's throat but the younger man kicked back, hitting the rapist's leg which caused the now would be rapist to yell in pain and buckle, releasing the man from his grip. The young man kicked out again to be safe, though nothing about this situation was safe, then ran and picked up the phone as Dan charged at the rapist. The rapist was still low to the ground when Dan knocked him onto the concrete. Dan held the man's arms away from his body, trying to pin his legs down, but the man kicked and sent Dan into a roll. Dan held his stomach while the man regained his strength.
"Yes I'm on A100 and there's a man who tried to rape me in an alleyway. Please send help!" The terrified man panted into Dan's phone. The rapist looked furious at the young man and began crawling at him rapidly. "No, no, stay away from me!" The young man screamed and began running backwards but this only caused him to fall onto his butt. Just as the rapist was about to reach the young man, Dan came out of nowhere and knocked him to the ground again.
"You like to be the hero; don't you bitch?" The man spatted at Dan. Dan grew, if possible, even more fearful. Did this man remember him from before or was that his pet name for everyone? Dan didn't have time to decide before he felt a stabbing pain in his side. He cried out in pain as the man thrust his knife deeper into Dan's side. "How does it feel to be the hero now?" He yelled over the sound of sirens approaching from a distance. He then tried to pull out the dagger, but Dan held it fast.
"You're not going anywhere." Dan managed to splutter as the man tried again to yank his hand away from Dan.
"Let go of me!" He cries as the sirens grow louder; growing scared of getting caught.
"Not on your life, you rat bastard." Dan growls as he lets his body weight fall onto the man. They heard the squeal of the tires around the bend and they all know the rapist's time has come. Just as the young man runs to get the police, the man yanks the blade out and jabs Dan again. This time causing Dan to scream high pitched and louder than before. He then rolls Dan off of himself and looks down at Dan.
"You wanted to be the hero?" The man asks Dan quietly as the torches of the police shine down the forgotten alleyway. "Then you can die a hero's death." He snarls as he pulls Dan up by the hair and exposes his neck at a painful angle.
"Drop the weapon, NOW!" A policeman yells as the squad approaches. The man looks at them, smiles, takes the blade and goes to slice Dan's neck like an animal. But a shot rings out in the small alleyway. It hurts the ears of those in the alleyway as the man looks at his wound in his chest before he looks up again, lets Dan's hair slide through his fingers, smiles and falls backwards onto the concrete.
The police surround the man and Dan; one tries to keep the rapist alive while another keeps his gun drawn on him. A different one yells for an ambulance as he sees Dan's wounds slipping blood onto the alley's black pavement.
"We need an ambulance NOW! Two men have been wounded, one shot, one stabbed; both in critical condition." Dan hears all of this as he slips out of consciousness. But all he can think of to calm himself down is how Phil would react to the news of his heroism.
"Phil." He whispers to the policeman who is telling him to stay wake, the ambulance will come at any moment to take him to the hospital. "Get. Phil."
"Phil, Phil who?" The policeman asks seeing Dan is slipping further away than the ambulance coming to the rescue.
"Phil Lester." Dan manages before his head falls just as the ambulance pulls up with lights a flashing.