Chapter 4
It was a dark and stormy night...
Literally.
I was standing in the kitchen of my new flat, pellets of water drenching my clothes. The only thing I could think about was how cold it was.
The water was more like ice, piercing through my skin. On the floor a small pool was forming.
We were going to need to clean that up.
Speaking of we, where was Phil?
"Here."
And he was 'here', standing in the doorway. But it wasn't Phil. Or was it? I couldn't tell, because at the same time he looked like PJ. My eyes began to hurt as his form started to flicker back and forth, causing me to look away,
"I'm hungry." I told him, simply,
"Look in the cupboards." his voice sounded disoriented. It should scare me, but it didn't.
There was nothing in the cupboards, so I did the only thing that made sense. With as much force as I could muster I ripped the cupboard door off it's hinges. It instantly turned to bread within my finger tips. I smiled and plopped it into my mouth.
I then continued to do the same with each cupboard door, until I heard Phil behind me begin to yell,
"Stop! What are you doing?"
I turned around, frightened that he was shouting at me. He wasn't. To my surprise, Chris was standing in the archway of our kitchen. He was murmuring something to Phil. I couldn't make any of it out, the sound was so muffled.
"What?" I said.
Or at least tried to say.
But every time I opened my mouth, a string of piano chords flew out.
I squeezed my lips shut, hoping it would stop that horrific noise. My attempts failed. It was so loud! I wanted it to end!
My mouth opened again, this time my vocals singing,
"Back to the street, where we began. Feelin' as good as lovers can, you know."
My eyes flew open, and I groaned, my hands fumbling around aimlessly for my cell. I pressed the 'accept call' button,
"Hello?" I croaked,
"Dan! How's it going mate?" it was Chris,
"I'm fucking tired, what do you want?"
"Well, you see," he began. I could hear him smacking his lips on the other line. It was something Chris did when he was about to say something strange, "Me and PJ were thinking about inviting you and Phil to go out somewhere today."
"Oh? Where to?" I replied, sitting myself up in the bed. I brought the duvet up to cover my bare chest,
"A male strip joint, of course!"
"Chris!" Peej shouted from the background. I heard Chris let out an faux-irritated sigh,
"Laser-tag."
I chuckled,
"Yeah, sure. Are you going to call Phil and ask him, too?"
There was a bit of silence from the other end,
"Why can't you just ask him? You live with the guy."
"But I don't really know him that well."
"Oh, get over yourself, Dan." He laughed. I heard PJ say something to Chris from the other side, not sure what it was. Soon later Chris was telling me, "Gotta go, mate. The hubby needs me."
I swear I could've heard him wink,
"Alright, see ya'."
Then the call ended.
I stood myself up and shuffled to the bathroom, letting out a yawn as I opened the door. I don't exactly remember going to sleep last night; it must've been sometime after my incident. Those have been happening more frequently now, and to be honest, it was scaring me quite a bit.
There were still some boxes that weren't unpacked. About two or three, containing things like shoes, games, and of course my "special items", which I had been in the process of unpacking yesterday.
When I saw my body in the mirror, my eyes basically become the size of the moon.
Hah, good one, Dan.
No, but really. Across my left arm was a myriad of lyrics and swirling patterns.
On my right arm was the word "no" written over again a multitude of times. It was what I had been working on yesterday, but wasn't visible due to the jumper I had on before me and Peej left.
I looked down, not surprised to find more lyrics on my thighs. There were also doodles of random mushrooms and darkly shaded tree branches. Large flowers with thorns growing from the stems.
And within each little work of art were small dotted lines of dried blood.
I ran my fingers across the spirals, lightly tracing them,
"..Dan?"
The voice, no matter how gentle, nearly made me jump out of my skin. I turned towards Phil and looked at him with wide eyes,
"Oh! Sorry. Did I scare you?"
"Uh, a bit. I'm fine, though."
He nodded, his gaze brushing over my near naked skin (I had my boxers on, you perv). A very noticeable blush exploded across my cheeks as my arms wrapped themselves across my stomach. I cleared my throat.
Phil's face became red as well, after he realised I saw him staring,
"I was just.. getting in the shower. To wash all this off." I explained. I actually hadn't been planning on showering, but it now seemed like a good idea. Phil nodded, the blush still tinting his cheeks (and I'm sure I looked the same) as he walked away.
It took me a few seconds to figure out how the shower handles worked, nearly burning myself on the first try; soon I had gotten the hang of it. Standing under the warm water gave me some time to think.
I thought about last night. How did I end up in the bed? The last thing I remember was talking to Phil after what happened.
Maybe I fell asleep there. I kind of was a bit tired.
So did Phil put me to bed?
Did Phil undress me and put me to bed?
Oh my.
I guess he did.
But I probably shouldn't bring that up.
No, that'd be weird.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door,
"Dan? You alright in there?"
I furrowed my brow,
"Yeah.." I replied, a bit confused.
I hadn't been in here very long. What made him ask?
And then it hit me. By it, I mean my palm; by me, I mean my face.
I had been talking to myself again!
God, Dan. You idiot.
After I was sure all the ink was gone, I excused myself from the shower. I then wrapped a towel around myself and headed straight to my room. From my closet, it seemed a good idea to choose a black ops shirt and some dark, dark skinny jeans, which were a pain to get on. My hair was still drying; I could always straighten it later.
I then went to search for my flatmate. Laser-tag was still a topic I had to bring up with him. He wasn't hard to find though. Phil was just sitting on his bed scrolling through some website on his laptop. I knocked on the door frame, feeling too awkward to speak up. He saw me and smiled,
"What's up?" he asked,
"I - uh, Chris, invited us to go play laser-tag." My hands fiddled with the hem of my shirt,
"You wanna go?"
"I guess."
He shut the lid on his lap top, setting it to the side and then adjusting himself so he was sitting indian style,
"Alright. What time?"
I shrugged, and cast my eyes down to the floor,
"Are you alright?" he asked.
I shrugged again. He sighed,
"Dan, I know it's kind of weird living with someone you don't really know, but if we're ever going to become friends, you need to ... um ... interact more?"
I nodded. I felt like some loner kid that was getting a lecture on how to make friends.
And I guess, I was.
But the reason I was nervous to talk to him was because I didn't want to screw up. I had already embarrassed myself more than needed, I couldn't have him not like me. Except not saying anything doesn't work that well, either,
"I'll go call Chris." I told him, making my way back to my room.
After receiving the time and place from Chris, I informed Phil. He then told me I should probably put a sweatshirt on before leaving, considering there were little red scabs all over my arms. I agreed, grabbing my red university sweatshirt (and straightening my hair in record time) before we left,
"Aw, why'd you straighten it out?" Phil pouted when we exited the flat. I chuckled,
"Because I hate my curly hair."
"I think it's cute."
"I think it's horrific."
He gave me a playful shove, causing me to giggle as I batted his hands away.
Seriously, Dan. Giggling.
Phil then laughed, and I swear to god every single butterfly in my stomach chose that moment to do the salsa because it was the most adorable thing ever. His tongue poked out a bit from the side and the corners of his mouth pointed up into little triangles; I couldn't help but stare and I'm pretty sure he noticed because he just awkwardly coughed and messed with his fringe. He didn't drop his smile though, it continued as that cute little smirk.
Wtf you're a cute person.
When we arrived at the underground, my mood dropped a whole bunch against my will. I looked around, confused on who was transmitting me these emotions. Why?
And then I remembered that I am not like these people. I am different and they all discriminate against me.
I guess when I was with Phil, I felt okay. I felt like I belonged. Like I belonged with him.
That was just because of his Facult, though. I didn't really belong with him. I didn't belong anywhere.
And the feelings being sent to me only confirmed that theory,
"Dan, are you okay?" Phil asked, noticing my sudden drop in mood.
I felt so frustrated, he's had to have asked me that about twenty times today. I didn't answer him. I just continued forward,
"Dan."
"Shut up, Phil."
And he did.
We were both silent on the tube. This kind of reminded me of when I was with Peej yesterday.
My mood still hadn't increased, which didn't surprise me. There were still people on the train sending me malice emotions, and those who couldn't just glared at me.
Suddenly there was something else, something clashing with every other emotion I had. I looked over at Phil, raising an eyebrow,
"Every time someone makes you feel bad," he began, speaking soft enough so only I could hear, "I'm going to send you ten times more of what I have and rule them out."
He then paused, continuing after I hadn't replied,
"I don't like seeing you upset. I know we haven't really known each other that long, and it's kind of my job, I guess, to care about people," he then looked me dead in the eye, a shock of electricity seemed to trickle through me.
Those butterflies started to dance again.
My thoughts were running a mile a minute.
The beat of my heart was so fast, I could barely feel it.
Maybe it wasn't even beating at all,
"But... I think I care about you more than I should." he smirked again and I nearly fainted.
"Dan! Phil!" Chris called, "The dashing duo." He flashed a grin, the proceeded to give us a very suggestive wink,
"What." I said, completely monotone,
"Are you guys ready for some Laser-Tag?" he asked, ignoring what I said,
"You bet." Phil smiled and shoved his hands in his pockets,
"Great! Let me just go and get Pee-jay..." he trailed off. Chris left in the direction of the snack bar within the arcade.
When he returned, PJ was following close behind,
"Right, so we're going to do flatmates versus flatmates. Me and Peej on the red team, of course," he chuckled, "because we all know that red is the colour of hot things, and me and Peej are indeed very hot."
"For christ's sake, Chris." I laughed,
"So are we blue because we're cooler than you?" asked Phil,
"No.." Chris began, "You're blue because that's the colour your corpses are going to be when we crush you!"
At this point, we all broke out in hysterical laughter as Chris stood there, confused,
"I'm serious, guys!"
-which caused us to laugh even harder. Chris mumbled something before grabbing PJ by the arm and trotting off towards that laser-tag ticket desk.
We each paid individually for our game ticket, but since the arcade wasn't very busy on Tuesdays, we got to head right in with no wait.
Before we entered the arena, we all stood in a room with the laser-tag gear that was lit in two colours: red and blue. There was a video we need to watch on safety prior to entering the arena. When it was finished, we went in.
The arena was fairly large. There were various walls and raised floorings within the room. It was completely dark, save the red and blue glowing patterns that were etched into the walls. On one side of the arena, placed on the ceiling, was a white glowing button that belonged to the blue team, it was there for the red team to shoot in order to get points. The same for the other side as well,
"Alright," a guide shouted from the doorway, "You all know the rules. No maiming, no pushing, no shoving. No hitting each other with the guns, yada-yada. You can only gain points from shooting the designated white lights on your opponent's side of the arena. When you are shot, your laser-gun will be inactive for a total of ten seconds. Please refrain from climbing on to the top of the walls, and as always, have a great time. Your game will begin in sixty seconds, and last for five minutes."
He then left, closing the door behind him,
"Ok, we have a minute to plan.. so, go to your guy's side." PJ said, taking Chris and heading over to their area,
"Right. So. What's our plan?" Phil asked as we made our way to the side our point system was on,
"One of us will stay here and guard the white thing-y, while the other goes and tries to shoot the other team's.. white.. thing-y..."
Phil nodded, understanding,
"We should switch off every now and then, though. Yeah?"
"Yeah."
Soon my phone started to ring from my pocket, seeing as it was PJ as the caller ID, I answered it,
"Hey?"
"Hi, yes, so me and Chris came up with this fantastic idea."
I chuckled, "And what would that be?"
"So we need an incentive, right? I thought, whichever team gets the most points can decorate the other team players."
"Decorate?"
"Yes! With, like, paint and glitter glue and stuff like that."
"I never agreed to this!" I heard Chris shout into the phone. I laughed,
"Okay, sounds good."
Soon a buzzer went off, announcing the start of the game, and a procession of awful dubstep music rung throughout the arena. I quickly hung up my call with PJ,
"I'll guard first! Go on, Dan. You are the chosen one!" Phil shouted from behind, pushing me forward. I laughed and ran towards the other side of the arena. I skillfully ducked and hid behind the walls, peeking through the portholes that were on a few of them. When I reached the other side, I was surprised to find no one guarding it. I shrugged, lifting my gun and preparing to shoot when-
bzzzt.
I pulled the trigger. Nothing happened,
"What?"
I glanced down to find the blue light on my chest plate flickering. Someone had shot me. But who? And from where?
After ten seconds, when the light reappeared, I tried shooting again.
bzzzt.
"Okay seriously, what the fuck." I turned around, and sure enough Chris was behind me, crouched down within a crevice between two walls. When my light returned, I quickly shot his chest plate before he could get mine,
"What! No!"
"Hah-hah!" I mocked, turning around and firing shamelessly at the white light, "take that, motherfucker!"
Soon my light went out again and my shooting ceased. I quickly ran back to the blue team's side to find a very confused Phil,
"Someone's shooting at our thing, but I can't find them!" he threw his hands up.
I knew it had to be PJ, since Chris was on the other side. But where was he?
I pulled out my phone and dialed his number. From back behind a wall I could hear a ukulele sort of song begin to play. I followed to sound, finding an irritated PJ bashing on the 'end call' button, cursing at his cell. He looked up from his crouched position, giving me a weak smile as I held up my laser-gun and shot his chest plate more times than was necessary, and Peej then stood up chanting "no, no no!" as he ran back to his side,
"And stay out!" Phil yelled in his general direction,
"Switch?" I suggested. Phil nodded, and left to go attack the other team. I decided to steal Chris's tactic and hide behind a wall, waiting for someone to come around. Soon enough, PJ was back. I slowly raised my gun, about to shoot, but he got me first,
"Crap!" I shouted, scrunching my face, "How'd you know where I was?"
"Wasn't that hard to figure out." he smirked, shooting at the target. Except, soon, PJ's light went out. But I wasn't the one who shot him?
I turned around and saw Phil standing there, gun in hand. From behind him I saw Chris, quickly shooting him before he could get any further. I then ran to the other side. This was my chance to get some points back!
I'm not sure if the others pursuited me, but incase they did, I ran in a sort of zig-zag pattern to avoid being shot. When I reached the other side I took no hesitation in shooting their target,
"Ah! Dan!" I turned around. Phil was running this way, PJ and Chris closed behind. His light went out multiple times. I aimed towards Chris, shooting him in the chest and doing the same with PJ. When Phil reached me he ordered,
"Keep shooting the target, I'll hold them off."
I nodded, doing as he said. Now it was only PJ left, as Chris went to our side. A count down began to echo throughout the arena. I didn't go after Chris. If I kept shooting this target here, we might just beat them,
15 seconds left.
"Ung, I can't get him!" Phil wailed. I looked over from where I was shooting. Phil's eyes were wide as PJ swiftly moved from one side to the next, trying to shoot Phil to get to me. Thinking fast, with only 5 seconds left, I quickly shoved Phil behind me and shouted,
"Shoot!"
He knew exactly what I meant, and aimed upwards toward the target.
At seemingly the same time, I shot my laser towards PJ as he did to me.
bzzzt.
I glanced down, my light went out.
The buzzer went off signaling the end of the game.
I slowly dropped to my knees in a melodramatic manner,
"Why" I whispered, falling on to my face,
"Dan! Noo!" Phil bent to my side, then turning to PJ, "you monster!"
"I did what I had to do." he spoke lowly.
After about five seconds of silence, we all burst into uncontrollable laughter. Chris then returned, furrowing his brow,
"What'd I miss?"
PJ ruffled his hair, ignoring his question,
"Let's go see who won."
We made it back out into the arcade to receive our scores. Chris grabbed the sheet of paper from the counter and read it aloud,
"Ok, well, we tied." he said.
"So what now?" I asked. PJ smirked,
"Well technically, we both lost."
"Glitter glue and paint war?" Phil suggested,
PJ winked, "Exactly."