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cozyfoxy · 1 month ago

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The Brackenwood Murders Chapter 3/?

Summary: Detective Lester works to get to the bottom of things and won't let anyone get in his way.

This chapter has sexual content, read at your own risk!

Chapter One Chapter Two

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The next morning, Phil walked into the police station, shivering at the cold wind that wrapped itself around him like a hug. The door shut behind him, allowing a few stray leaves to fly into the main room. Phil looked around, making eye contact with the man at the front desk.

“Hello, is Mr. Brewer in his office?” He asked politely, smiling sleepily.

The man nodded and smiled back, "Yes, he is detective Lester.”

Phil thanked him softly and walked towards the already familiar office, admiring the Halloween art on the walls from the local children. Though he was there on business, he couldn’t help but have a soft spot for Brackenwood. Phil knocked gently on the door, stepping inside when Brewer’s voice told him to come in.

“Good morning, Chief Brewer, I just have a few questions for you. Then I’ll be on my way.” Phil explained calmly, looking around the room and stopping on the unfamiliar man in the extra chair, “Oh, my apologies, I didn’t know you had someone in here.”

Brewer chuckled, “Good morning to you as well, Phil; don’t worry, this is just my son, Aaron. Son, could you step out for a minute?”

Phil raised his eyebrows at the familiar name. It seemed like today was a lucky day for the detective. Aaron looked at Phil curiously before nodding at his father and stepping out into the hallway.

“Alright Brewer, I’m going to get straight to business. Last night, two local men stopped by here with what they saw as evidence for the case. I ran into them, Dan and PJ. First of all, I need to know why you think it’s okay to brush off anyone who needs help. Because you are under oath to protect those who need it, and you failed.” Phil explained, taking a seat across from Brewer.

Brewer cleared his throat, adjusting his shirt collar that suddenly felt tight. “Ah, Dan Howell and PJ Liguori. Those boys were quite the troublemakers as teens. I can’t even remember how many times they ended up in the back of my cruiser. Pranksters, them and Liam Collins. They took Halloween very seriously, always filming scary movies complete with fake blood and terrifying makeup. I got calls nearly every day in October because of it, especially from ladies over at the church. The boys liked to film in the graveyard, and it disturbed the peace. They became a bit of a problem for us here, so it’s hard to take them seriously.”

Phil nodded and pulled out his notebook and a small tape recorder, setting both onto the desk in front of him and turning the recorder on. “So you say that Dan Howell and PJ Liguori were a bit of a problem as teens, but are you aware that they’re grown adults now? They had a key piece of evidence with them last night, yes? A letter addressed to Mr. Howell with photos of Liam Collins, his late boyfriend, who was killed years ago. One of the victims in this case. Yet, you told them to stop wasting your time, and one of your cops called Mr. Howell a pervert because of the photos.”

“We weren’t comfortable seeing those photos. It was a man in sexual acts with another man; you can’t blame us. We assumed it was them trying to cause trouble and push their agenda on us. If you want to take it seriously, be my guest. But we don’t have time for their tricks here.” Brewer grumbled softly, looking through the papers on his desk uselessly.

Phil stared at the older man in front of him, anger floating to the surface of his chest. “You clearly haven’t seen half of the terrifying things that I have, Chief Brewer. You also ignored them the night of the first killing. On October 25th, 2010, the first night of the Brackenwood Halloween festival, Dan, PJ, and Liam met a man in a plague doctor costume. Mr. Howell met the man. again at the end of the night, covered in blood. You told Dan and PJ that it was clearly just part of the costume and sent them on their way. Explain that, please.”

Brewer sighed, “Why am I being interrogated, Mr. Lester?”

“Answer the question.” Phil ordered, raising his eyebrows in challenge.

Brewer took a deep breath. “It was Halloween. People around here take it seriously. Haunted houses, costume contests, scary decorations. You name it. Again, it was Halloween, and of course there would be blood-covered costumes. I assumed they were just being dramatic. Howell has always been a bit of a dramatic.”

“Why do you say that?” Phil asked softly, leaning forward.

The older man sighed, tugging on his collar again. “Dan and Aaron used to be friends. We were close with all of the Howells. The boys met at church, and they were inseparable—best friends, I’d say. One day, they were playing out on the church playground, and something scared them. I don’t even remember what it was, but Howell was screaming something awful. Aaron was crying. After that, Dan avoided Aaron and our family. He stopped going to church, and eventually, so did his family. He won’t even look me, my wife, or Aaron in the eyes now. I’ve seen the boy cry more than I have seen my own son cry. He just tends to blow things out of proportion.”

Phil hummed and crossed his ankles, making a few notes in his journal, “So, what you’re telling me is that you’re not able to drop your personal biases in favor of taking this case seriously.”

Brewer gasped, “That’s not what I’m saying at all, Lester. I just know these boys well, and I have no reason to believe that they would ever be of any help.”

“Okay. That’s all I need. I have already contacted my team back in London, as well as the head of the ministry of justice. You and your team are being taken off of the case; it’s now fully my responsibility.” Phil explained calmly, closing his journal fluidly and turning off his tape recorder.

The sheriff sat in his chair, staring at Phil like he had two heads. “What? You can’t do that!”

Phil smiled softly at the outburst. “Funny that you think so, because it’s already been done. You haven’t given any indication that you actually care about the case anyhow; you’ve had plenty of time to solve it, but you’ve failed.”

Brewer stood up angrily from his chair, making it fall back against the wall. “Listen here, you little shit; you have no right to come in here and take over what I worked my arse off to get! Stop sticking your head where it doesn’t belong! I’ll kick your ass!”

The detective smirked and looked up at the older man attempting to loom over him. “Now, now, Brewer. Anger isn’t a good look on you; you look a bit like a tomato. I could very well have you completely taken off of the force, you know, but I didn’t share every rule that you’ve broken. If you want, I can tell them everything I’ve come to realize here. Your blatant homophobia, sharing classified information with your family, and of course threatening to harm me. Now my team will be here by the end of the day. They’ll be taking residence in the two empty offices that you have here. You and your team are to leave them alone. In your words, don’t stick your head where it doesn’t belong, got it? The head of justice will be here to speak with you in the next couple of hours.”

Chief Brewer stood frozen for a moment before dropping his head in defeat, “Okay. Have a nice day, detective.” He grumbled.

Phil stood and thanked him politely while collecting his belongings before walking through the door, aimlessly searching for Aaron. He had a few questions for the man, and it was important to speak with him before Chief Brewer did. The detective walked into the back room, sighing in relief when he saw Aaron sitting at a table, sipping coffee.

“Hello there, Aaron, I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions.” Phil explained, pulling out his tape recorder again and turning it on, “Mind if I take a seat?”

Aaron looked at Phil with a soft smile before adjusting his glasses and nodding. Phil couldn’t help but admire how attractive the man in front of him was. He had light brown hair that was styled in a quiff; the sides buzzed short, and freckles speckled across his cheeks and jaw. He was quite muscular and tall as well, just a little shorter than Phil.

"Alright, Aaron, I’ll get this over with quickly, okay? First off, I need you to tell me about Dan Howell.” Phil explained with a smile.

Aaron nodded and sat up straighter, holding himself confidently, “Well, what about him exactly?”

Phil hummed, “I’ll be honest with you; I need to know why you told him things about the case of the Brankenwood murders. Don’t worry, you’re not in trouble or anything; I just need to know so I can move forward with the case.”

“He was always curious about it, even after the first murder. Sometimes at parties or clubs he would ask me if I knew anything, and I’d give him vague answers. I never told him or showed him details until after Liam was killed.” Aaron explained calmly before taking another sip of his coffee.

Phil nodded, “Okay, so what changed? Did he pay you or something?”

Aaron laughed softly and shook his head, “Not with money, at least. You’ve seen the lad, yeah? It’s almost impossible to say no to him when he begs for something. Those eyes, fuck… he just knows how to get his way. And the fact that he gives the best head I’ve ever gotten is an added bonus.”

The detective bit his tongue for a moment, pretending to write something in his journal while he thought through his words. Knowing that Dan offered sexual favors for information on the case made him feel something close to jealousy. He couldn’t explain why, but he felt protective of Dan Howell, especially now.

“Alright, so he offers you sexual favors in return for information, yes? When and how did you two come to this agreement?” Phil asked after giving himself a moment to calm down.

Aaron chuckled and ran his fingers loosely through his hair, “It was an accident in a way. He asked me to meet him the summer after Liam was killed. He knows my pops is a blabbermouth and that I would know at least a little bit of what wasn’t put out to the public. I met him in the small forest by the graveyard. Poor thing looked a wreck, skinnier than I’ve ever seen him, shaking, and he had bags under his eyes…”

“Aaron? Where are you?” Dan called out quietly, walking into the trees carefully. Though it was the middle of summer, he was shivering from the cold.

Aaron turned his head, “Hey Danny, I’m right here.” He called back, seeing the brunette walking towards him.

Dan walked faster until he stood next to his childhood friend, trying to catch his breath. He knew that he was safe in the summer; the Brackenwood killer only struck during October, but the fear was still there. No matter where he was, whenever he was alone, he felt like someone was watching him, waiting to strike.

“Sorry I’m late; I had to wait until PJ fell asleep. He doesn’t let me leave the house alone, especially at night.” Dan explained quietly, running his fingers through his hair.

Aaron chuckled quietly to himself, leading Dan to a fallen log that he had spotted moments ago, “Listen to everything he says, like a good boy, eh?” He teased, offering Dan a seat.

Dan huffed and rolled his eyes before sitting down, “He’s trying to protect me. I’m getting better, but it’s been hard. Peej has helped a lot.”

“I know, he’s a good bloke. Now, what did you want to ask me?” Aaron asked softly, tilting his head to one side.

Dan looked into Aaron’s eyes, giving him the best submissive doe eyes he could manage, “I know your dad tells you things about the case; I want to know if he’s found anything new. About Liam, about the killer? Please?”

Aaron looked into Dan’s eyes, biting his lip. He knew that Dan wanted information for more than just answers; he wanted it for his blog. The very blog that Aaron’s father hated because it always knew too much. The same blog that put the Brewer family on edge. He wanted to refuse; he wanted to tell Dan to go home and forget about it, but he couldn’t say no to the beautiful man beside him.

“What’s in it for me?” Aaron asked, his chest tightening.

Without any warning, Dan sank to his knees, rubbing his pale cheeks against Aaron’s clothed thighs. It was a soft touch, but it was enough to make the normally strong-willed man melt. He sighed softly and ran his fingers through Dan’s slightly matted curls.

“Please tell me, Daddy, I’ll do anything. I’ll suck your cock. Let you fuck my pretty mouth until you cum. I’ll let you use me like a worthless toy. I haven’t been used in a long time; I need your cock, daddy.” Dan whimpered, slipping Aaron’s thumb into his mouth and sucking gently.

Aaron groaned gutterally and tugged Dan’s hair softly, "Okay, pet, why don’t you suck Daddy’s cock, and he’ll tell you everything he knows. I’ll even let you publish it on your little blog. The harder you make me cum, the more information you get.”

Dan nodded eagerly and unzipped Aaron’s jeans with his teeth, pulling out his hardening cock and sucking softly at the tip, lapping up the precum like it was water and he was lost in a desert. He stroked Aaron’s cock lazily as he sucked, admiring the soft grunts from the man above him.

“Mmm, you and that mouth, baby. It’s been too long. Now, here’s some of what I know. My pops has decided that the killer must go to the Raven’s Roost often; he’s telling our townspeople to avoid the club. Fuck, that’s good.” Aaron moaned as Dan took him deeper.

Dan hummed around Aaron’s cock, using his tongue to rub the tip as he bobbed his head. Aaron tightened his hands in Dan’s hair, fighting the urge to fuck Dan’s mouth mercilessly. Normally, he wouldn’t care. He knew what Dan could take and what he couldn’t handle, but Dan looked so fragile. Aaron didn’t want to actually hurt him, no matter if Dan would like it or not.

“Good boy, doing so well for me. Fuck… As of right now, he thinks it’s a man between the ages of 20 and 25, with a strong build and likely tall. He doesn’t think he’s working on his own. I have some crime scene photos I can give you. Hell, I’ll give you a copy of his notes, baby; just keep sucking.” Aaron moaned, staring into the brunette’s eyes.

Dan suddenly moaned around his cock, making Aaron shake at the feeling. He tugged Dan’s hair harder, making Dan’s nose press flush against his pubes, He had the crime reports in his bag; he was hoping that Dan would be willing to suck him off for the information. He wanted to give the man everything that he deserved.

“I’m gonna cum baby, get ready.” Aaron moaned, feeling the familiar pressure build in his lower abdomen.

Dan gripped Aaron’s thighs tightly, squeezing them as a way of giving permission. Aaron groaned in understanding and thrust his hips mercilessly, the soft gags coming from Dan only turning him on more.

“Fuck, fuck baby...” Aaron moaned loudly as he shot his load down Dan’s throat, fucking him through the orgasm.

The brunette waited until Aaron was done before pulling off with a soft pop, leaning his cheek into his friend’s awaiting palm, enjoying the affection.

“You did so good for Daddy, so damn good. The information is all yours.” Aaron panted, pulling out a folder of notes and images from his bag and handing them to Dan.

Dan sighed thankfully, “Thank you, Aaron. It means a lot. Don’t worry, I’ll keep you out of it.”

Aaron nodded and helped Dan stand up, “I know, baby boy, now get home to PJ; we don’t want him worrying about you. But if you need anything else, you know where to find me.”

“So that’s what happened.” Aaron explained with a shrug, “Then it became a thing for us. He needed more information; if I had it, I would give it to him. He’d give me his pretty mouth. I never asked for more.” Aaron shrugged again.

Phil cleared his throat and nodded, crossing his legs discreetly as his erection ached in his dress pants, “So he most likely still has the folder on information, yeah?”

Aaron nodded and leaned closer to Phil with a smirk, “Yep. He keeps everything that I give him in a chest underneath his bed.”

“Thank you for your help, Aaron. I plan on keeping you away from the case as much as possible, so don’t worry about anything.” Phil explained, reaching out for a handshake.

Aaron reached out to shake Phil’s hand, his jacket sleeve sliding down just a bit and showing a familiar black paper bracelet, a white raven printed on the side. The Raven’s Roost. Phil felt his body tense a bit, but he worked to hide it.

“That’s an interesting bracelet there. It’s from the Raven’s Roost, yeah? What’s it for?” Phil asked casually.

Aaron blushed a bit and nodded, “Should I bother lying about it? Or do you know your stuff?”

“I know my stuff, so don’t bother lying. I’ve done a lot of research on the club; I know the wristbands and their meanings. I know you’re a hardcore dom. But I’m more interested in how often you go and how many people you know there.” Phil explained calmly, waiting patiently for an answer.

Aaron sighed and looked into Phil’s eyes, “It’s the only BDSM club anywhere near here; a lot of the gay community goes there. I go every Friday night, sometimes Monday nights when I can. I’ve never noticed anything weird or anyone weird. But I don’t go super often, so I wouldn’t be the most helpful. But if you go there, you’ll get a lot of attention, pretty boy, from myself included.” He teased softly with a wink.

Phil chuckled softly, “I’ll look into investigating at the club. Thank you again for your help.” He said again, standing up and hiding his crotch behind his briefcase. It had been awhile since he had some fun, and his body was giving that away.

“Hey, detective, just so you know, if you want to take away some stress, come find me. I’ll show you a good time.” Aaron offered with a smile, watching as Phil left the room.

The detective sighed and walked in long strides out of the police station, heading straight to his hotel that was luckily just a few blocks away. He could feel his cock leaking precum in his boxers; the feeling had already become uncomfortable. He knew that he needed to take care of it quickly.

As soon as he stepped into his room, he locked the door and threw his clothes into a pile on the floor, the cool air making him shiver. He threw himself onto the bed and licked his hand, stroking his cock lazily. Phil closed his eyes tightly, imagining the pleasure that he was feeling was coming from someone else.

He imagined pale pink lips wrapped around the head of his cock, chocolate brown eyes boring into his own blue ones. Phil imagined that Dan would be needy, whiney even, begging for his cock. It had been such a long time, that in just a few flicks of his wrist, Phil was cumming into his own hand, a soft moan of Dan’s name on his lips.

The detective huffed and walked to the bathroom awkwardly to clean himself up. A dark curtain of shame loomed over him like a cloud, leaving a twisted feeling in his stomach. He was here to complete a job, not fantasize about those involved with his case. Phil glowered at himself in the mirror for a moment, trying lazily to fix his hair that was sticking up in odd places.

A soft ding from the main room of his hotel caught his attention, and he sauntered over to his bed. Phil pulled on a new pair of boxer briefs and slid back into his dress pants before picking up his phone. A message from the very man that he had fantasized only moments prior sent a shiver down Phil’s spine, but not one of shame, one of worry.

Dan- “Hi. Could you stop by today sometime, please? I got another letter. Scared to leave my apartment.”

#phan #phandom #dip and pip #phan fic #phanfiction #phan au #amazingphil #dan howell #The Brackenwood murders

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queenusagiblog · 11 months ago

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usagi I need you to know that I have not stopped thinking about the unnamed pencil stab au drawing since you posted it last month

mostly long-haired phil he’s put down roots and he’s really to murder the cocky bastard that dan is

there’s no question here or anything I’m just thinking about them and now wanting to write long-haired phil (but like not in the same context LMAO) — ferallester

listen, dude. i'm sorry to tell you this but the document i worked on back in 2017 got deleted and i only remeber bits and pieces from the au.

from what i remember:

they're in college

phil is a stalker and dan is a rich a hole

both dnp have blackmail on each other

so the only natural outcome is to kill the other

and of course someone gets stabbed with a pencil

i'd love to see your version of long-haired murderous stalker phil, that'd be fun~

#answered

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hacked-by-jake · 10 months ago

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Therapist: So, tell me about your friends. What are they like?

MC: Well, you know..

MC: Who have we got here...

MC: Jessy, well, Jessy is very emotional. Not very rational. She likes to run into dangerous and unknown homes after using the satnav of someone else and also likes to check out the houses of murder suspects and almost gets killed by them. Luckily she run fast enough, haha.

MC: Thomas... Well, Thomas is a stupid puppy. Most of the time he forgets he's a brain. He's not really good in using it, tho. He's a true cry baby. He mostly is too dump to realise how serious situations are and that's why he just doesn't care about important instructions. Or, he cares but he's not smart enough to follow them. But he loved his girlfriend a lot, which is a good thing. Oh, and he also likes to visit houses of possible murderer. He once broke into Hannahs apartment where he met Cleo who also broke in there. And together they tried to break into Phil’s bar. But remember, door of steel. Very shameful fail.

Therapist:

Therapist: Okay, you told me the Cleo, what about her?

MC: Cleo. Well, Cleo likes break-ins. During the short time I met her, she broke in twice and tried another one but failed terribly. Together with Thomas, by the way. But there was a door made of steel and that was above her break in skills. She also likes to go for runs in the forest while there is a murder in there as well.

Therapist: *nervously chuckles and cleats her throat* Okay, what about... The name say.. Jack Daniels?

MC: Ohh, Dan. Dan is good at shooting with weapons, he can also see if weapons are real or fake pretty fast. And unlike Cleo, he prefers to break out instead of in. Hospitals are not his thing, you know? Oh, and he loves whiskey... and car drives at night... Together...

Therapist: Okay, let's switch. What about a girl called Lilly?

MC: Ah, Lilly. I used to hate her with everything I have, you know. She accused me of kidnapping and murderer. She really messed up. And she's talented in that. She's also good in video production.

Therapist: Thank God, something normal. What kind of videos does she do?

MC: Well, videos in which she incites people and spreads horrible rumors, as mentioned, I hated her once. That was because she made a video in which she accused me and her half brother of the things I also mentioned. Murder and kidnapping and shit. Oh, and she loves to call the police. If you ever need someone to call the police for you, she's the one you should ask.

Therapist: *sighs*

Therapist: And who is Phil?

MC: Argh, Phil is uninteresting. He’s an ordinary misogynist. Owns a bar. He got arrested once. And I suspect he might have killed the former bar owner. But nothing special.

MC: We also got Richy. Well, he's.. he's a very bad criminal, you know. Like, really bad. It's not his biggest strength. He was the one who actually kidnapped the girl, but he didn’t kill anyone. And he even changed his personality and became an old legend. He was shot once, no twice, but at the same time. Thanks to Richy, I know Dan’s good at shooting. And as teenagers he buried a dead body. That's why he became this old, ridiculous legend. And the body also takes us straight to Hannah.

MC: Hannah. Hannah is the kidnapped girl. Hannah is cute. She once fell in love with her half brother but she did not know he's her half brother so.. But she's to blame for the dead body. She borrowed a car from Richy one night even though she didn’t have a driver’s license. Well and then she unfortunately ran over a girl by car. As I said, no driver's license... Long story short: Richy and Hannah and another girl named Amy, who was also in the car, buried the body. Sometimes Hannah has problems with hallucinations, but it’s gotten better since Richy got caught. She thought she’d seen the man without a face. The old legend. But luckily, it was just Richy with a potato sack over his head.

Therapist: You mentioned the half brother of Hannah and Lilly several times now. Tell me about him.

MC: *giggling* Oh, he's my boyfriend. I love him with everything I have, you know. He's just as uninteresting as Phil. He hates Phil, he's very jealous, so please don't tell him I compared the two. But I can't really talk about him, you know. The FBI is watching me so I can't say much.

Therapist: FBI? Why that?

MC: Well, my boyfriend is a government-wanted hacker. And the FBI tries to catch him since several years. So, like I said, as uninteresting as Phil. But I’m relieved he’s a much better criminal than Richy.

Therapist: *about to scream*

+ bonus

Therapist: Can you wait here for a minute? I need to make a call I forgot, but it won’t take long.

MC: Sure, go ahead.

Therapist, in another room, calling: I urgently need a couple of ambulances and just as many white jackets!

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lyon-amore · 2 years ago

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What if...? Duskwood Chapter 26

Chapter 25 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Macie POV*

I enter the Rogers' garage, looking for Richy with my eyes. I thought he would be at reception, as Jessy isn’t here. "Um... I'm not doing anything wrong walking in on my own right?" I whisper. After all, I was visiting a friend. I walk into the car repair area and find him with Dan's car. I'm sure he hasn't examined the car so far because he didn't believe it had been tampered with either. I approach slowly, lucky that his back is to me, so I can give him a surprise.

I place my hands like I have a gun and place it on his back. "You are under arrest, Mr. Roger!" I exclaimed, trying to put on a slightly deep voice, although impossible, Richy is startled and hits his head as he stands up. I let out a laugh and he turns around, looking pained. "Please-…. Macie?" Richy looks at me nervously, almost as if he's seen a ghost. "Hello Richy." I greeted, with a charming smile. "What-" he chuckles, looking around "what are you doing here?" He asks with an annoyed tone "I mean! It's not that I'm not glad to see you!" He points to me with his hands, still nervous "You're here, Wow! Ah… Wow, I don't know what to say…" "Do I look that bad in person?" I joke, seeing that he can't speak. "Yes- I mean!" He stop talking and sigh "I better shut up before I says any more nonsense." I laugh again and lean against the car, looking at him. "Dan's famous car…" I say without taking my eyes off all the wreckage. "Did you manage to find anything?" "No sign of tampering" he replies, taking off his gloves. ", But what are you doing here? And where are you staying? I ask out of concern, since everyone in Duskwood wants… Well, you know." He makes a gesture like shooting himself in the head, pretending that he dies. I nod making an annoyed sound. Luckily it hasn't happened yet. << Faster than I thought. >> "I'm here for work," I replied, putting my hands in the pocket of my sweatshirt, "a report on the Pine Glade festival" I see him nod, also leaning against the car "and I'm staying at Jessy's house." "Really? Have you seen her?" He asks me worried about her. "Yes, just before leaving, she told me 'Make yourself at home' and she left me in her house alone. "How strange that she didn't tell me you were here..." "Well, with the Phil topic…" I let out a long breath. It has been a strong blow for her. "Yeah, about Phil…" I see that he really seems to feel bad about the situation "I can't believe they arrested him, I mean… Just giving free drinks to pretty girls shouldn't be a crime." I roll my eyes. Even at times like this he jokes. "Do I remind you that because of you and that pack of matches, Cleo and Thomas wanted to enter the basement?" I ask angrily. "I was trying to help with any clues, too" he says, shrugging. ", But where's Jessy?" "She's…" I take a breath and get serious. Ground set "She's gone to Iris's house, Jennifer Hanson's mother" I use the last name she had found on the internet researching on my own. Of this I hadn’t yet told. I see Richy's expression change, even this time he does turn pale. He starts to look at the floor, nervous. "You gave me the wrong name" I give him a friendly shove, with a laugh "or as it was ten years ago, maybe you didn't remember it right?" "Yeah, that's it" he laughs, holding on to his cap. ". That case was a long time ago, the truth is that I still gives me the willies. Knowing that the murderer was never found made all of Duskwood nervous for a while," he explains calmly. Although his hand tells me otherwise when I see it, gripping the car tightly "But I already told you, there's no way Jennifer's case and Hannah's are related." "Well, it seems so." I brush my hair behind my ear, doing this, I can show my eyes, searching his with confidence "Hannah told Iris that the same man who killed Jennifer was after her." "And that's the man who kidnapped her?" he asks me, turning around to put away the tools. "For now, it's the first theory I have" I see him concentrating on keeping each tool well placed in its place, slowly "and the clue we have is a car, an AMC Gremlin." He drops a tool and curse. "Sorry." he apologizes, looking at me. "Don't tell me that now you're going to make that hacker go file by file looking for that car on the internet?" He laughs, going back to put the tool right. "And why not? "Because I doubt I'll be able to find anything," he replies, moving closer again "there aren't any files on our computers from that time… And I wouldn't want it to get into our current files, you know what I think of it." "That's why Jessy is going to take care of it" I dare say, ", if you don't mind, of course." "If she finds something," he crosses his arms thoughtfully, "they're files from ten years ago. Who knows if they'll still be around?" "For trying," I shrugged "But since you didn't take care of that, you may not even know if it still around, right?" "Yeah, I guess you're right," he sighs, touching his cap again. "And when is Jessy coming back?" "First she is going to go to the Duskwood police station, she wants to be able to find out who accused Phil." "And if he was the hacker?" He asks me. I don't see anything strange in his question, he means it "Think about it, he is very interested in looking for Hannah and with everything that has been said, maybe he has given false information." "Can you all stop accusing Jake without knowing him?" I get upset, letting my feelings out, "Jake is innocent! He wouldn't do something like that, he would risk more trouble." Richy looks at me surprised at my anger, he almost seems hurt for saying that. "Wait here." he tells me before heading back to the offices. I try to relax. Anything that involves accusing or pointing fingers at Jake for something he hasn't done bothers me. I can't stand being treated like this. <<But of course, only I really know Jake…>>

I stay waiting giving the car touches with my finger. If all goes well, this may be over soon. "I'm done" Richy returns, hands behind his back and a smile. ". Extends your hand." I roll my eyes and sit up, moving away from the car. I listen and extend my hands. He leaves a chocolate bar in my hand, with the logo of his store on it. I look at it with great interest, as if it were the best thing that exists. It's just that it's a chocolate! "You said that you prefer chocolate to a cup before, so I ordered a few at the bakery. " he answers me while I spin the chocolate bar "Well?" I open the package and take the chocolate to my mouth. Delicious! "Um… Is this blackmail for what you said about Jake?" I ask, covering my mouth to eat. "More of an apology." He smiles. I stare at him, hesitating for a moment. He's a good friend and yet… I can't believe what I'm thinking. "Hey Richy." I start to say, afraid. "Yes Macie?" He doesn't erase his smile. It’s hurts. "Is there something that worries you? Or what would you like to tell me?" I ask, while I cover the chocolate again "You know I'm your friend, right? You can be honest with me." Richy looks away, hiding with his cap. "I'm just…" he exhales "I'm worried about Jessy" he says, trying to look me in the eye " Hannah's kidnapping, your false accusations, the attack, Phil's arrest… I'm really worried about her, it's just that…" he squeezes hand tightly. "She shouldn't go through all this." “I know." I try to stay calm. I mustn’t get upset. "Why... why don't you take more chocolates?" He signals for me to follow him to the reception. It seems like he's already kicking me out in a roundabout way. He hands me the glass bowl "Take the ones you want." “Okay…” I take five and put them in my sweatshirt. I hear how he laughs "What? What's happening? "Leave a little bit for the others." “There is no sign that says 'Take only one'.” "Thanks for the idea." I laugh too, at least, letting the atmosphere between the two of us be more relaxed. “I have to go now” I say, pointing to the door. ”I loved seeing you in person.” "And me too, and how long will you stay?" "Until the festival ends, why?" "Oh, well…" he scratches his neck nervously, avoiding looking at me "We could all go together and show you the Pine Glade festival and help you tell you everything we know." "I'd love to." He goes to hug me but he remembers that his uniform is full of car oil. He ends up shaking my hand to say goodbye. I hope my theory was worth coming here for, if not… I'll feel like the worst person in the world. On the way to the motel, I stopped by the cafeteria to buy two coffees. I was sure Jake was going to need one. I knock on his door and he opens a little to see who's outside. I see that he is wearing the mask and sweatshirt. "Ah, it's you" he says more relieved ", everything okay?" "Yeah, I'm done." I hand him the cup and he takes it. "I thought you would need a couple of batteries." He lets out a laugh and he looks at me. "Thank you." "Are you doing well?" "I still have a little more left" he looks inside for a moment and then at me "Can you wait a little longer?" "Sure, I'll be in my room then." I waved, indicating that I'm close. "Or also…" He stays quiet and stops looking at me. I wait a bit for him to invite me in. "Get some rest." he finally tells me. "Sure" I smile while inside I scream. ". Send me a message then okay?" "Yes, do not worry." He closes the door and I head to my door. If I had suggested staying in his room, would he have invited me? "Do you want to come in?" I turn to hear Jake after opening the door "I still have to look at chats, but if you want we can talk about it while I'm reading." I will reply when I receive a notification. I pick up my phone and look at the group chat. Thomas asks to continue the conversation about Phil's arrest. "The group?" "Yes," she answered, a little annoyed at having chosen the most inopportune moment. "Is the invitation still standing?" I ask, now daring "I can stay in bed talking to the group while you're busy." "In…in my bed?" He asks nervously. "Yeah, well... You're using the only seat in the room for the computer-" "Of course, right." I see how he blushes. I control myself in laughing, what was he thinking? "Come on, they'll be waiting for you in the group." I approach with a smile and enter the room.

I lie face down on the bed and Jake returns to his work reading the chats. I hope they haven't waited too long for me. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thomas Can we please carry on here? Cleo Yes, I’m back already, too Macie Richy? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Richy was usually one of the first to always go online and I know he was already done looking around with Dan's car because he was there. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dan So, is everyone allowed to speak their minds now? Macie Everyone already is Dan Good My case is crystal clear I screwed up with Phil because I left him hanging in the Aurora Shortly afterwards, my car’s brakes suddenly fail Just as I happened to be driving home from the date with his sister ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I roll my eyes at what he says. That's not a reason to accuse Phil of anything and after talking to him several times, he's not the least bit interested in the stories of Jessy and her friends, but I find it normal that he gets upset because he didn't show up for work. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cleo When I wanted to question Phil about Hannah, he reacted very oddly Ran his mouth off about Hannah and couldn’t get rid me quick enough -------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------

<<Hey, Cleo, when they accused you of something, don't get mad when you react badly, advice for someone who's been accused. >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Macie Which I can understand from today’s point of view Cleo Excuse me? Macie According to him, you weren’t exactly being affable Cleo I might have tried breaking down his reserve, far point But that doesn’t excuse the way he acted Macie And ridiculous clues are not justifiable either 😑 Dan Hey, who said I was done talking? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Ooh!" I get out of bed and reach for a candy bar, opening it. "Open your mouth, Jake." I walk over to him, standing next to him. "What for?" "Just do it." I laugh at his doubt. He opens his mouth and bites into some chocolate. He makes a sound that he likes and he looks at me. "Thank you." he says after finishing eating the piece. "You're welcome, I'll leave it here" I leave the chocolate on top of the paper in which he was wrapped on the table and return to bed. "Roger's Garage?" Jake asks. He must have taken the chocolate. “I went to see Richy,” I say, looking up from my phone. “Any problem? "No, none," he answers awkwardly "But I remember you said you were going to see someone special." I smile at how upset he seems. "A friend can also be special, Jake." I replied, while smiling to hear him like that. "Yes, of course, yes, I know…" I hear him murmur "Friends are also… Special." I shake my head, letting out a laugh. "What?" He asks me, turning around a bit. "No, nothing, everything perfect." I answered, trying to put on an innocent face. Jake rolls his eyes and goes back to the computer, taking a sip of coffee. "And the chocolate isn't that good" he finally says ", I've had better." "Uh-huh, sure." I still need more evidence and theories to talk about my suspicions. He told me at the beginning that he suspected someone, what if he is the same person I think? I must not jump at first and accuse without first building the scenario in my mind. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jessy I’ve just been to the police And they know pretty much everything About Lilly's video, that we got involved, that we’re hiding evidence! That a wanted hacker among us And they know about you, Macie Macie That can only mean trouble for Jake ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Jake." I get up from the bed and walk over to him, showing him the conversation. I start to bite my thumbnail, nervous "what do we do?" He stares at the screen, frowning. "Well, the Duskwood police don't know what I am like or who I really am at the moment," he hands me back the phone. " And it's not his job to arrest me either, don't worry about me, I care more about you. Did they say something to you while you were going to see Richy or when you came back?" "No, I was wearing the hood all the time" I answered, more concerned. ". I also imagined it on my part, but what about you?" "It's all under control." He takes my hand and smiles at me. "Nobody's going to get me, and you know why." I know he's saying that so I won't worry, but it's horrible to think that they could take him away from me. <<I feel that I am becoming obsessed with this fear, I must calm down a bit. Jake's safe in here, as long as he doesn't get out of here, he'll be fine. >>

I return to the conversation. Jessy and Cleo argue again. I actually wonder if they've ever been friends or just have Hannah in common as a friend. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jessy I know one of you has testified against Phil The police chief told me ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oh perfect. We have a snitch in the group. What else can happen? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thomas Because of Phill called Hannah. The same day she disappeared Jessy Who says that? Thomas Macie ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Saying it that way, it seems that I have accused Phil, when in fact is not like that. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jessy You talked about Phil? As suspect? Macie But only because Cleo and Thomas Jessy Why didn't you tell me, Macie? ☹️ Macie Because I don't believe that Phil kidnapped Hannah. Richy Jessy, it was me who that whole thing going It’s me you should be angry ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jessy logs out. Great…

I see the chat between Richy and Jessy. She believes that she has been Richy, but it is not true. He has not been, of that I am sure of it, and I have been able to notice it. In the end, Jessy decides to quit her job because she believes that Richy is to blame for her brother's arrest.

I stretch out on the bed closing my eyes. All this tension in the group is not good, if everyone starts accusing each other, we could end up not trusting each other.

It's perfect, I get to Duskwood and things get worse than before. *Jake POV*

I finish reading the chats and turn in my chair to tell Macie. I close my mouth when I see her lying on the bed, without writing. Is the conversation over?

I get up, careful not to wake her, and I approach her, watching her sleep. I look at hers lips and think about kissing her. These thoughts… I have to calm down.

She slowly opens her eyes, looking at me sleepily. "I have read up on everything." I say, without raising my voice. "Welcome back..." she answers, sitting up in bed. "Thank you" I see how she stretches herself and she complains "tired?" "No, I had just closed my eyes for a few seconds," she answers and yawns. I laughs at her and she looks at me badly. "Well, okay, but because I haven't slept well in a long time." "Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but it's time to work." "Don't disappoint me, I was looking forward to it." she sits down and she looks at me waiting. "There really were quite a few things that I had to catch up on" I begins to say, pulling a chair closer to the bed. ". It seems that the group begins to divide." Macie looks at me concerned. From the messages that I have been reading, in the end she has grown fond of the group, they were even playing through the link that I saw. "I'm scared of being pulled to one side." I don't know what to say exactly. I see all of Macie and Lilly's friends as mere objects to help me uncover the truth behind Hannah's kidnapping. Or that's what I think, when I saw that Jessica was attacked, I felt that it must be my fault. I gave Macie a hard time seeing her friend get attacked. <<And again my thoughts return to her. >> "Yes, I understand" I put a hand on her shoulder, trying to reassure her. ". A situation like this can have its benefits, because it presents two opposite points of view simultaneously. The difficulty for you now lies in remaining objective” Macie frowns, a little annoyed. ". It seems that the group begins to divide." "I'll try…" She have to keep an eye on each action now, we cannot let this be a setback. "I have to admit this arrest has come as real surprise to me." "And I don't think Phil was counting on being arrested, either." I see in her eyes how worried she is for him and it bothers me. I don't understand why worry about someone who treats her sister badly and who sees women as objects. If you're pretty, a free drink? He is the worst guy there is. I am thankful that I am not like him. "I don’t suppose he was" I finally answered, trying to calm me down. "The police have been investigating for a long time on levels that we have not been able to access. I think the general mood has influenced our expectations of the police significantly." "In other words, that very possibly thanks to 'The Three Musketeers', that has helped them." “We could pretty much say but" I start thinking about what we have so far of any clues that it's Phil. I hate that there isn't any "it seems like there isn’t enough evidence on either side." “I have to find out who gave evidence against against Phil." Seeing her determined face makes my heart race.

I can't help but get nervous, what she does is incredible. I love that instinct to want to know the truth, it's very natural. "Yes" I start to think about the situation "Who would gain anything from keeping information about Phil secret from the group?" I await Macie's response, who seems to hesitate. “Someone who thinks they can get to Hannah that way." By stopping the alleged kidnapper, he may talk. Although there is no indication that Phil is... At the moment. "It's true," I admit. "In any case, we can’t assume that we will find out who it was any time soon." "It bothers me a lot" she says angrily. "Whoever is in the group, I'm not going to forgive them." I don't know if Phil is important to her, but it hurts. The way she cares about him makes me feel bad about myself. Inferior to him. "I've seen the conversation you had with Phil" I open the topic and I feel like I should stop, but I can't control myself, it's as if I can't think clearly because of what I feel for her "Why did he invite you to come to the Aurora?" Macie looks at me surprised. So far I haven't noticed, but my voice sounds like I'm upset. "Because I'm his sister's friend." she replies innocently. I frowned. Actually, I'm not angry with her, but with him. I don't trust Phil or what he might try to do with her. "You said you would go." I see how she outlines a smile. I should have stopped. "Are you jealous?" “No.” I lie. "Yes." I sigh and cross my arms, ignoring her gaze. "He seems very unlikable." "What?" She lets out a laugh "On the contrary." I don't know if she wants to bother me or is serious. "Well, then it’s just me who doesn’t like him" I continue to contradict her. I don't know what you saw in him to say that. "You shouldn't have come to Duskwood, Macie" I fix my eyes on her brown ones, quite serious. ". It's too dangerous for you to be here." "An objective analysis leaves no room for jealousy" she now answers, crossing her arms. "But my worries about you do." I reply quickly, approaching her and resting my hands on the bed. We stare at each other and she brings her hand to my face, caressing me lovingly. "Don't worry" she smiles at me calmly ", nothing will happen to me while I'm in Duskwood." “Promise me” I say firmly “, that you'll be careful while you're here." “I promise you Jake, I'm not going to put myself in danger." "Thank you Macie." I lean my forehead against hers, closing my eyes. "I couldn't bear knowing you're in trouble…” I whispered, close to her lips. "I could say the same, you know?" She answers me and I feel the air from her mouth close to mine. I walk away slowly, remembering not to have a distraction right now. I was supposed to talk about everything she's accomplished without me and chatting and here I am… Worried that I might lose her. Is not professional of me. "I…" I clear my throat, once again leaving the big space between us "I saw that you noted the name 'Alan' on Hannah's telephone list. "I even know who he is" I see how he breathes in and out with difficulty, is he okay? ". He's the Duskwood police chief." “Interesting…” I think the reason why she would call him, would she be because of the man who was following her? "So Hannah contacted the police shortly before she disappeared. Perhaps she wanted help." “Or she wanted to give testimony.” I remember Macie saying that maybe she did something terrible. I'm afraid that's the case, but it should be accepted. "But the conversation didn’t last very long."

Seat when remembering the duration of the call. "Well spotted. Giving evidence in such a short time would therefore have not been possible.” I see Macie clutching the sheets tightly, thinking. It seems that something is bothering her a lot, I would love to know what she is ". In spite of everything I would like to tie in with our last lead. You do want to carry on investigating, don’t you?" She looks at me like I was right, with a half smile. "I wouldn't stay here otherwise," she lets out a slack laugh. "We are closer to Hannah than ever before." "Yes Macie, we are" I replied with a smile. She's spent too much of her life on this case. "The fact that Hannah got this bracelet from a pawn shop could take us a huge step further." "I've thought about that too. That way, we can find out who left it there in the first place. " "Correct." I get up from my chair, pacing the room. "It almost vexes me that I didn’t think of it earlier. " "Don’t worry, I could say the same." she excuses me and I smile at her. "This fact furthermore tells us another important detail about the original seller." I should have thought of that. Maybe we're lucky and the store owner can tell us something. "Taking an object to a pawn shop usually means that you return at later point to retrieve your item once again." “So it wasn’t Jennifer’s killer then.” Macie jumps up, like a light bulb has gone off. "Yes. We must assume so" I answered at her deduction. "We should find out who originally handed in the bracelet, I’m sure you know that this is a task for you.” I winked at her, knowing that so far, her help has come in handy. “Great! I was already looking forward to a mission.” she answers me with a wink and I laugh.

I see that then she doubts for a moment whether to speak to me or not. She gives me a few looks, too, almost accusatory. "What's going on, Macie?" I ask worried, approaching her and taking her hands "What are you worried about?" "You… you deleted Hannah's emails, didn’t you?" She asks me, and I notice that she doesn't hold my hands like she used to, like she's doubting me. "Yes. But by now I’m sure you understand why I had to do that." She nods slowly. Something else worries her. "Yes, I think I do…" she shrugs doubtfully "Do you ever ask yourself if we're going too far?" "How far is too far when it comes to a person’s life?" I don't want to argue with her, but I want to understand her concern." I cannot answer that question" she lowers her head, looking at the floor "Can you, Macie?" Macie looks at me hard. We both have different opinions on how to finish the search for Hannah. I know she couldn't help but become attached to the group. I left her alone and they was the support of her that she had. "As soon another life is in danger because of it." "You mean your friends, right?" Macie goes to answer, but her cell phone rings.

She breaks apart and she pulls her cell phone out of her sweatshirt. Little by little I see how her face is changing. I don't understand that expression. Is it fear or emotion? "What is it?" I ask worried. "So we're not going too far, are we?" She tells me, showing me the chat. In it she showed me that Jessica had sent her a photo. A photo of a door with a bloodstained crow on it.

He had just marked her.

Chapter 27

#duskwood #duskwood jake #duskwood mc #duskwood jake x mc #duskwood fanfic #duskwood everbyte #everbyte #everbyte studio

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phanfictioncatalogue · 2 months ago

Text

Long Fic Titles (8+ Words) (5) Masterlist

part one, part two, part three, part four

a universe without you (would be thoroughly mundane) (ao3) - chaeriloidea

Summary: Too much time on Twitter makes Dan reflect on how far he's come in his relationship with Phil and his audience.

Dan and Phil Take Each Other's Clothes Off (NOT CLICKBAIT!!!) (ao3) - BREAD2000yeet

Summary: Dan and Phil play dress-up based off Dan's one dailybooth

Dan stops and stares at him, “You did not just tell me a red panda fact while we are having sex.”

“They can also glow in the dark.”

don't wanna walk alone (so let's get married) (ao3) - lesbaurinkos (pluginbaby)

Summary: Phil’s always been a little wistful about the idea, some part of him a bit hopelessly romantic, perhaps, but his mind always catches on the thought of marrying Dan.

(or: marriage chats on a saturday night)

every city was a gift (and every skyline was like a kiss upon the lips) (ao3) - jonsaremembers

Summary: “Do you think we could get a proper American desert cactus for our house?”

“Phil, no.”

“I missed the train, can I stay with you?” Redux (ao3) - yikesola

Summary: Phil can’t believe he let Ian convince him to go out to a nightclub. How he got from there, to sending a text to Ian that he’s actually heading back to his flat with somebody holy shit don’t be worried he won’t get ax murdered probably, Phil really can’t be sure.

A ficlet about senses and surprises.

I missed you so much I dyed the towels green (ao3) - chuuyaswife

Summary: A few of Dan’s shows get cancelled while he’s on the WAD tour so he decides to surprise his boyfriend back home for a few days. Fluffy reunion ensues.

i wanna throw the fight (and kiss away your pain tonight) (ao3) - jonsaremembers

Summary: when feelings are too much for words

i will never know a sunday (how slow the moments go) (ao3) - beaniebopbaby

Summary: The man hunched over the piano, and Phil felt like he couldn’t breath. He looked around the room, to see if anyone else noticed this shift, when he finally realized they were alone. The notes grew slower and slower as Phil stood, drifting closer to the man playing the piano. The pianist looked as mesmerized as Phil, absorbed in his playing.

I'd like to hang out with you (for my whole life) (ao3) - bunnyslipper

Summary: Mornings in the forever home (featuring the golden pig)

If we were two sunflowers, I would have faced you instead of the sun (ao3) - twinphantasy

Summary: It didn’t really matter where they were or what they were looking at because Dan would always be looking at Phil.

i’m electric, a romantic cliché (me and you were meant to be in love) (ao3) - nardfx

Summary: “i really don’t know if i can do this.”

“you can do this.”

“okay, but what happens when everyone’s eyes are on me and they all know all of my secrets?”

dan and phil go to prom

in this falling rain (i fill the scattered you) (ao3) - ivylakes

Summary: “I’m not,” Dan finally says, voice cracking. He still doesn’t look over at the older boy. “I’m not okay, Phil.”

Phil stays where he is. He doesn’t leave, but he doesn’t come closer, either. He simply waits.

He always waits for Dan.

Or, Dan is weighed down by his mind, and Phil holds him anyway.

It Only Takes a Moment: A Dan and Phil WALL-E AU (ao3) - trancelover99

Summary: So, I've been thinking about this WALL-E AU where Dan and Phil replace Wall-E and Eve for a while, and I thought I should get around to making it! I hope you all enjoy it!

Origins of the Phass Inflation Post (Dan and Phil in Greece) (ao3) - EverythingIsAsItWas

Summary: Dan and Phil rarely take vacations just for themselves, vacations in which they make no content, do not work, and simply enjoy each other's company. Going to Greece feels like the perfect opportunity for this, but Phil also thinks it's the perfect opportunity for a video... and Dan likes being a little shit.

The three times it was a one off and the one time it was forever (ao3) - KirstieVic

Summary: 2014, 2016 and 2018 it's a one off.

Then 2020 during lockdown, it's forever.

we were never in the park (ignoring tornado warnings) (ao3) - pasteldanhowells

Summary: After Phil leaves Dan, Dan starts seeing a therapist. Then, Phil comes back, and Dan starts lying to his therapist about him.

without saying a word (you had all of me) (ao3) - rainbowroshenpower

Summary: I trace it all back, three-thirty AM

That night, something turned in my heart

While you were sleeping, I fell in love

you're never gonna get by on three hours sleep a night (unless you absolutely have to) (ao3) - Mildredo

Summary: phil has a migraine on tour.

#phanfictioncatalogue #phanfic #phanfiction #masterlists #dan and phil #longfictitles #longfictitles masterlist

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unorthodoxsavvy · 1 year ago

Text

The Philver Scream

The American Nightmare

Chapter 6

Word Count: 75k

Rated: R

Genre: Horror

Phil sat at his kitchen table with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders and a mug of hot tea in his hands. He hadn’t noticed, but it was the mug his brother Martyn had given him. The hot liquid had called out the constellations of stars, but Phil was too busy staring straight ahead at a knot in his wooden table while Dan paced back in forth in front of him on the phone.

“Yeah. Yeah, it just happened. Yeah, I got over here as quick as I could. No, you don’t need to come up. We’ll be there tomorrow. I don’t know, I’ll think of something. Yeah, I’ll tell him. He’s in no shape to talk to anyone. He’s like, in shock or something. No, not like medically, but he may as well be. Yeah. I won’t. Okay.”

Dan pulled away his cell phone from his ear and ended the call.

He slipped his phone in his jacket’s pocket and glanced at the time on the stove.

“If we leave now we can make it by lunch,” Dan commented, more to himself than anything.

He stopped his pacing and pulled out the other chair at the kitchen table, sitting down.

“Phil?”

Phil continued to stare at the table.

“Phil?”

Phil looked up at him.

“Phil, I need to know what you saw,” Dan explained gently.

Phil didn’t say anything.

“Phil, where was it?”

“I don’t know,” Phil mumbled.

“How many victims?” Phil winced.

Dan rephrased the question.

“How many people died?”

“Children,” Phil mumbled.

“How many children died?”

“Four.”

Dan glanced away for a second, pained.

“Who did this?”

“A man.”

“What did he look like?”

“He had scars on his face. He wore a fedora and a tattered and dirty red and green stripped sweater. He had a glove that had blades on the end of it. They called it a knife-glove.”

“What else?”

“I don’t know. It was always dark when he was there. It was hard to see him clearly.”

Dan paused and pursed his lips in thought.

“Phil?”

Phil didn’t respond.

“Do you remember when you were at my mother’s house? And you held her hands? And you looked through her memories?”

Phil nodded.

“Can you… show me? Can you show me what you saw?”

Phil took a moment to think about it. He supposed he could.

“Yes,” he replied.

Dan held out his hands.

“I don’t want to,” Phil objected, the horrors of his dream still fresh on his mind.

“I’m asking you to,” Dan argued softly.

“I saw you die again.” At this, a tear spilled down Phil’s cheek.

“Please, Phil.”

Phil hesitated, but slowly, with great restraint, he placed his hands gently in Dan’s, closed his eyes, and squeezed, pushing the memories and thoughts of his dream into Dan.

Dan’s grip on Phil’s hands tightened as he witnessed everything that Phil was able to remember from his dream. There were snippets missing, details that were foggy, but the main gist of it was there. The murders were there.

Dan pulled his hands away.

“Oh my god,” he whispered.

*-*-*-*-*

Dan went upstairs and packed a bag for Phil while Phil sat at the table and drank his tea. It was the morning of August 14th, and it was still dark out. Dan came back downstairs and loaded Phil into his car and drove all the way back to his house. Phil sat in the car and waited while Dan packed a bag for himself.

Dan popped the trunk and placed his own overnight bag in the back before climbing back into the front seat to start the long drive back down to Quantico.

Phil leaned against the passenger seat window staring ahead in the dark as Dan’s high beams lit up the road in front of them, illuminating trees, deer on the side of the road, the blades of grass wet with morning dew, and so much more. Phil focused on one thing for a second before the next thing caught his eye.

Dan stared straight ahead without saying a word. The radio was off and Phil didn’t have his earbuds in. There was nothing but the sound of the car and it’s engine and it’s tires as it ate up the miles, bringing them closer and closer to Virginia.

Do you want to talk about it? Phil asked.

I don’t know, Dan answered honestly.

Phil’s eyes flickered towards the corner of the dashboard, as far away from Dan as they could.

We have to talk about it at some point.

I know. But not right now. Not right now.

*-*-*-*-*

Phil wasn’t sure when it happened, but at some point he’d fallen asleep, because when he woke up the sun was just starting to peak over the skyline, and they were pulling off 95 towards a McDonalds.

McDonalds coffee is shit.

“I’m hungry.”

Phil didn’t reply.

“I hate when you do that,” Dan said again.

“Sorry,” Phil mumbled, quietly.

Dan spared a quick glance over at Phil.

“It’s okay. If it feels better for you, you can do that.”

Thanks, Phil smiled.

Dan reached over and ruffled Phil’s hair. Phil closed his eyes in bliss, using every part of his mind to savor his touch.

“Do you want anything?” Dan asked.

Phil nodded.

Dan pulled up to the microphone menu.

“Hi, welcome to McDonalds, how may I help you today?”

“Hi, can I have a large coffee, and two egg McMuffins?”

Dan watched his order come up on the screen while Phil unbuckled his seatbelt next to him.

“Anything else I can do for you?”

Phil climbed onto the middle consol as much as his long legs would allow him and shoved his head in front of Dan’s to speak out the window.

“Can I have a breakfast with hot cakes and a large coffee as well?”

Phil slid back into his seat while his order came up on the screen.

“Will that be all for you today?”

Dan glared at Phil as he spoke.

“Yes, thank you,” he replied cheerily while giving Phil a death glare.

“That’ll be twelve eighty-two at the next window.”

“Thanks!” Phil called before Dan could say anything else. Dan took his foot off the brake and slowly rolled around the corner.

“You’re paying,” he said pointedly.

“My wallets in the trunk,” Phil reminded him, but as he was speaking Dan reached into his back pocket and pulled out Phil’s wallet, removing his debit card and paying at the first window.

Phil shrugged and turned to admire the view of early morning crows dumpster diving in the McDonald’s dumpster outside the passenger-side window.

They didn’t have to wait long for their order to be ready this early in the morning, and soon it was back on the road.

Dan side-eyed Phil as Phil scarfed down his food quickly.

“I guess you were hungry too,” he smirked.

Phil shrugged as he chowed down on his eggs. He was watching the GPS slowly count down the miles until they arrived back in Virgina to start everything all over again. Phil couldn’t help but wonder how many times this was going to happen to him. What if this was the rest of his life?

He tried to push the dark thoughts away for the time being as he turned his attention out the window. It was still dark enough for Phil to spot some deer on the side of the road. He hoped they stayed there and didn’t try and cross the interstate. There was no reason for them to. There was nothing better on the other side.

“If you could have any wild animal for a pet, what would you pick?” he asked Dan, trying to distract them both.

Dan tilted his head to the side ever so slightly as he drove and thought.

“A tiger,” he growled.

“You really want to house and feed a tiger?”

Dan shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe a raccoon. Or, ooh, a red panda. Yeah, I’ll take a red panda. They’re cute.”

“Do you even know what they eat?” Phil asked.

“Yeah, they eat like bamboo and stuff.”

Phil nodded.

“What about you?”

“Maybe a koala.”

“A koala?”

“Yeah. They sleep a lot and they hug you when you pick them up.”

“Don’t they smell weird?”

“I don’t know, do they?”

“I don’t know, I’ve never hugged a koala. Maybe I’m thinking of a sloth. You should get a sloth.”

“Like just go out in the wilderness and pick up a sloth and bring it home?”

“Yeah.”

“I wouldn’t survive a day out in the wilderness.”

“I don’t know, you survived being hunted by some secret agency of doctors with guns trying to kill us and stuff. I think you could survive the wilderness.”

“I would cut myself on a tree and get tetanus or something.”

Dan shook his head.

“You need to give yourself more credit. I think you’d be fine.”

Phil shrugged.

“Maybe when all of this is over we can go camping,” Dan suggested.

Phil shrugged. “Yeah, maybe.” To himself, he thought, if Dan was thinking about taking him camping, then he guessed the dream hadn’t scared Dan off from him forever. Not yet, at least.

“When do you think this is all going to be over?” Phil asked, circling back around to his earlier thoughts.

Dan pursed his lips. “I don’t know, Phil, but it won’t go on forever. We’ll catch whoever is doing this.”

“Do you think it’s the same person who did both?” Phil asked.

Dan shook his head. “I don’t know, Phil. I don’t think it’s likely, but look at some of the serial killers we do know about out there. I mean take Israel Keys for example. Guy drove all around the United States killing people with his little premade killing kits in every state. Maybe whoever this is has a similar deal. It’s not totally out of the realm of possibility that the guy can hop state lines killing people, it’s just unlikely. And if it is one guy, then he’s gonna slip up sooner or later, they all do.”

“Isn’t there supposed to be like roughly a hundred or so active serial killers at one time? And I mean, like, they didn’t catch like Jack the Ripper or anything,” Phil argued.

“Jack the Ripper killed less than ten people, didn’t he? Same with The Zodiac. They stopped before they got caught. They weren’t too greedy. It was the ones who were too greedy that got caught. And this guy? If it is the same guy, he seems really greedy. He killed seven kids last month, and another four this month. He’s going big. The bigger you go, the more room there is to mess up and get caught.”

“Do you ever listen to, like, true crime podcasts or anything?” Phil asked.

Dan shook his head. “No, I don’t have time to. And anyway, even if I did, I don’t know if I’d want the input of some crack armchair detectives spewing their own ideas about cases they know nothing about.”

“I think some of them just cover the facts, and a lot of them talk to people who were involved. If you got murdered, you wouldn’t want to end up on a true crime podcast?”

“Hell no. They can keep their noses out of my death. If someone didn’t care enough about you in life, why should they care about you in death?”

“You didn’t know Martyn when he was alive, but you care about him now that he’s dead,” Phil pointed out.

Dan shook his head.

“That’s different. It was a professional relationship. I was the cop working his case.”

“And so this, this is a professional relationship, then?” Phil asked, hesitantly testing the waters.

Dan sighed. “No,” he admitted. “It’s a working friendship.” He left it at that.

Phil shrugged and searched for something else to talk about.

“So, if you could have any other wild animal as a pet, what would it be?”

Dan rolled his eyes.

“Isn’t it time to put your headphones back in?” He suggested.

Phil smiled and did just that.

*-*-*-*-*

Lunch was McDonalds, again. Phil didn’t complain, he just gave Dan his order, pointedly staying in his own seat this time. They pulled back off onto 95, windows down and fast food wrappers flapping in tight grips while Dan kept one hand on the steering wheel and Phil kept one earbud in.

Phil watched as a car pushed past them doing near 80 with a little “Baby on Board!” sticker on the back windshield as he delicately held a french fry between two fingers. He harumphed and popped the fry in his mouth.

“If the murders took place over four days, then do you think that your dream was the first night they all died, or the last?” Dan asked, ignoring the car flying by.

“The last, I think. And don’t you want to wait until we talk to Jake?”

Dun shrugged his shoulders, hand holding his whooper. “Yeah, I guess. It’s just so…”

“Vivid?”

“Yeah. It’s stuck in my mind, even if the details are murky and hazy in some places.”

Phil nodded.

“I understand why you had trouble sleeping after this.”

“Thanks,” Phil replied, thinking about how in his dream they’d been sharing a room, sleeping together at a sleepover and then to stay safe against the dream demon, or the man with the knife hand, or whatever or whoever he was. He missed when Dan and him had shared hotel rooms or laid together on the same bed comfortably. Time and distance had changed the nature of their relationship, and Phil didn’t know where he stood with Dan anymore. Not that he ever did, really. And Phil knew his own attitudes about things wasn’t helping. He never sensed any kind of romantic feelings between Jake and Dan, but his mind couldn’t help but be jealous anyway: even if it wasn’t a romantic nature, Dan spoke about Jake in a way he never spoke about Phil. He spent a lot of time with Jake, and revered him. Phil felt like he’d not only taken a backseat, but faded into obscurity in the rearview mirror. And at the same time, he was embarrassed he felt this way to begin with. He was glad his psychic abilities didn’t go both ways; he wouldn’t want Dan seeing his thoughts and how he felt about him. But Phil could reach out and see how Dan was feeling, even if it wasn’t specifically about him.

Phil closed his eyes and reached out with his mind, finding Dan and latching onto him, and letting the feelings flood into him. They were a mirror of his own. Worry, confusion, repulsion at such a horrible dream… what were they going to find this time around? Phil already knew, and he wished he didn’t.

Phil rolled down his window with the crank handle and stuck his face out the window.

“It’s nice that it’s still warm down here,” he commented, letting the wind hit his face and push his worries to the back of his mind.

“Global warming,” Dan muttered.

Phil shrugged. “I know. But it’s nice.”

Dan didn’t rain on his parade any more.

*-*-*-*-*

They pulled into Quantico a little past 1:30 in the afternoon. Jake was waiting for them outside the same building Dan had pulled up to when they first arrived last time. His button down shirt had the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and his arms were crossed at the chest. As they got closer Phil realized just how disheveled he looked.

“Dan, Phil,” he greeted as he walked to meet them.

He turned towards Phil. “How are you feeling?” he asked, placing a hand on Phil’s arm.

“I’m alright, thanks,” Phil replied genuinely. He still wasn’t Jake’s biggest fan, but he’d been kind and useful to Phil, something that was hard for him to come across.

“Let’s get you both inside, and fill you up with more crappy coffee,” he joked.

Phil followed behind Dan, who followed behind Jake as he led them inside.

“Have you found anything yet?” Dan asked the question that’d been in both of their minds they entire way down.

Joke glanced over his shoulder while shaking his head. “I’m afraid we haven’t. Are you sure it was New Jersey?”

“I’m sure,” Phil pipped up.

Jake shook his head again. “It doesn’t matter anyway, we haven’t heard squat.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Phil growled under his breath as they stopped outside the ground floor elevator doors.

Dan put a hand on Phil’s shoulder. “We’ll find them, Phil.”

“Are you going to tell him?” Phil asked quietly, but not quietly enough, it seemed.

“Tell me what?” Jake asked, swiveling to face them while the elevator doors dinged and opened.

They piled inside.

“Part of Phil’s…” Dan hesitated, remembering what Phil had said about him not liking when Dan called them his “gifts” or “abilities”. “Phil can sometimes show people what he’s seen, and people can show him their thoughts too. So I asked, and Phil was able to show me the dream as best as he remembered it himself at the time.”

“So you’ve seen it to?” Jake asked.

“Yes, I have,” Dan confirmed.

“Can you show me?” Jake asked, as if the words stumbled out of his mouth. Then he waved a hand and shook his head. “I’m sorry, that was uncalled for. Well, two minds are better than one, at least. It’ll be better that we’ll be able to consult both of you now.” Phil couldn’t help but feeling his role in all this had been diminished. Dan had been there to translate what Phil had seen to the FBI. Now, though, Dan has seen everything Phil had. Did they really need Phil anymore? Well, it wasn’t as if they were going to send him home.

“I’ll show you something else some other time,” Phil offered. Jake threw a quick smile and nod over his shoulder as he weaved down the maze of seemingly endless yet similar hallways before stopping at his office door to unlock it.

When he was able to push into the door, he beelined for his desk, taking his seat quickly and jiggling the mouse to his desktop computer while Dan and Phil shuffled in, pulling up chairs to the other side of Jake’s desk.

“I have contacts out with an ear to the ground if anything comes up, but so far I’ve only found a few homicides with two people or less, and quite a few suicides.”

He turned away from his screen to look between the two. Dan and Phil looked at each other.

“Well you’re the FBI agents. Shouldn’t we start taking a closer look at these homicides and suicides?”

“Phil’s right,” Dan agreed, turning back towards Jake. “And besides, it wasn’t all in one night this time.”

Jake leaned back, stroking his chin in thought. “Maybe we should start by you both telling me what exactly happened in Phil’s dream.”

Phil looked at Dan and Dan shrugged. Between the two of them, they started telling Jake everything about the dream. Dan left out the part where he and Phil were in love, though, much to Phil’s relief. He didn’t think he could handle the embarrassment.

“Diazepam?” Jake repeated, interrupting Dan as he was speaking.

“Yeah, in Phil’s dream, he suggested we take Diazepam to help us fall asleep before we could defeat the dream demon.”

Jake did some typing and clicking over on his keyboard and mouse before swiveling around the desktop computer screen to face Dan and Phil. This morning a headline had popped up that read “Double Teen Suicide Inspired by Romeo and Juliet.”

“Romeo and Juliet!” Phil exclaimed. “That was the book they were reading in English!”

“There’s a news clip here,” Jake turned the screen back a little on it’s lazy susan so both sides of the table could watch while he steered his mouse to hit the “play” button.

A woman in a blue shirt and a blue cardigan stood in front of a house. In the sloped driveway behind her, an ambulance could be seen while paramedics transferred two body bags into the back of vehicle.

“The town of Blairstown, New Jersey has been rocked yet again by a mysterious teen suicide. This marks the ninth overdose of the sleep suppressant drug Diazepam this month in the US by a teen. In this house, a pair of teens were found holding hands and laying in bed together with the pill bottle on the nightstand next to them in what is being described as inspired by the famous Shakespear play Romeo and Juliet, which the two were reading in class. Allison and Mason, the names of the two students found in this house, were close according to reports, growing up across the street from each other. Reports say that the death of their friends earlier this week may have influenced them to take their own lives.”

Jake looked over at Dan and Phil. Phil was shaking his head. “It wasn’t a suicide, though. Someone killed them.”

Jake looked at Dan hesitantly.

Dan sighed. “I know how it sounds, Jake. One killer teleports around a camp in the middle of the night killing kids? Well, it can be explained by more than one killer. But a dream demon that kills kids while they sleep?” He thought for a moment. “Maybe we’re taking this too literally. Maybe this is some kind of metaphor. I mean really, how many times do your dreams really happen like they do in real life?”

“What do you mean?” Jake asked, running a hand through his hair as he leaned on it. Phil figured that was partly to blame for him looking so frumpy.

“What if we’re not looking for a dream demon, but someone who just kills people in their sleep? I mean maybe he’s drugging them first with Diazepam and then slicing and dicing them.”

“The media was saying that the deaths were overdoses, though,” Phil pointed out.

Dan shook his head. “Listen, I’m not saying it is right, but I’ve seen a lot of cops do what they think is right, including covering up a serial killer to chalk it up to accidental death or suicide. I’m not saying it’s good or it’s right, but that it might be what’s happening here.”

“Well how do we know for sure?” Phil asked.

Dan looked at Jake.

“You want me to call and ask?” Jake asked, dumbfounded.

Dan shrugged, a sheepish smile on his face. “We can’t claim jurisdiction if there’s no homicide,” he pointed out.

“You want me to call the town of Blairstown, New Jersey, and ask if they’re covering up a serial killing?” Jake reiterated.

“Jake, what choice do we have?” Dan pushed.

Jake shook his head. “Dan, I’m sorry, but we don’t have enough to go on.”

Dan’s face hardened and he leaned back in his chair.

“Fine. Phil and I will go by ourselves then.”

“Dan-”

“No. We’re right about this, Jake.”

Jake made a fist and slammed it on the table. “Dammit, Dan, I didn’t say I didn’t believe, you, I said we don’t have enough to go on.”

“So let Phil and I go!”

“This is the FBI, Dan, not some rinky-dink police force. You cannot just go rogue. There are protocols in place for a reason. Are you really willing to throw away your entire career over this?”

“Jake, children were murdered!”

“You don’t know that, Dan.”

Dan’s face hardened again. “Yes I do. I believe Phil.”

“So do I, Dan,” Jake repeated. He sighed and put his head in his hands. “Look. You’re not an official FBI agent. If you and Phil want to take a drive on your own personal time up to New Jersey, I can’t stop you, and I won’t stop you, but I can’t help you, either. Not in any official capacity. And I cannot help you unless I am invited by whoever is in charge of this case down there, of their own volition, which means admitting to covering up a series of homicides.”

Dan stood up from his chair. “We’ll get you your phone call. Just be ready for it.”

Jake sighed. “I will be, Dan. I will be.”

*-*-*-*-*

“Thanks for standing up for me in there,” Phil mumbled as they waited for the elevator.

“Yeah, well, I want to catch this sick son of a bitch,” Dan mentioned.

Phil shrugged. “It’s just nice to know you have my back, is all.”

The elevator doors dinged and Dan rushed in followed by Phil.

“Of course I have your back, Phil. I saw what you saw. I know you’re not lying.”

“How, though?” Phil asked.

“How what?” Dan asked, confused.

“How do you know I’m not lying?” The doors opened and Dan strode out, making his way deliberately towards where he’d parked the car. “How do you know that I didn’t just make it up?”

Dan shook his head. “Because you wouldn’t,” he argued. “You just wouldn’t.”

Dan unlocked the car and slid in. Phil followed suit on the passenger side.

“You’ve seen all your life what death and grief do to people. And you’ve experienced it yourself. You wouldn’t just make that up for clout. I don’t know why we were in these dreams, or why you’re having them, or why we were together in both of them, but it means something, and I want to get to the bottom of it. Don’t you?”

“Yes.”

Dan pulled out of the parking lot.

“How did you know we were together in the first one I had?” Phil asked.

“I knew there was something you were keeping from me about the first dream. When you showed me this one I figured that had to be it.”

“Are we going to talk about it?” Phil asked.

Dan glanced over and saw the pained look on Phil’s face.

“I’m sorry, but not right now, Phil. Solving this murder comes first. Not us.”

“You can’t put it off forever,” Phil muttered, looking away.

Dan grabbed Phil’s hand so Phil could sense he wasn’t lying.

“I’m not, Phil. I’m not. Just… not right now, okay? Not right now.”

*-*-*-*-*

Neither of them were looking forward to being in the car for an entire day again, but New Jersey was closer to Quantico than Massachussettes or even Connecticut was, even if it was only by two or four hours, so they pushed on through the exhaustion and kept driving. At some point Dan had let Phil take over driving, the first time in all their travels, but they were running on only a few hours of sleep and a lot of emotional exhaustion as well. They hardly spoke throughout the drive, one often sleeping in the passenger seat while the other sucked down a Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts or Mcdonald’s coffee trying to keep their eyes from fluttering shut.

The dotted white lines were hypnotic and the traffic was slow, neither of which helped any in keeping them awake. Phil blasted heavy metal in his earbuds while he drove, but at this point he’d become desensitized to it, and figured it was just a functional as a lullaby. He turned it up, however, past what was probably safe for his hearing, and kept on driving and driving, knowing that it couldn’t last forever. In fact, the GPS on Dan’s phone, propped up in it’s little holder on the dashboard informed him just how much longer they had. Phil watched the time count down minute by minute as he flicked his eyes back and forth from the road in front of them to the phone screen to the rear and side view mirrors then back to the road in front of him again. He made mental notes of the cars he saw frequently, who were traveling companions of theirs and yet they’d never met, off on their own adventures… ones happier and better than theirs, he hoped.

It was with relief that they finally crossed over the Delaware-New Jersey state line, joining up with their fellow cars on the New Jersey Turnpike. Dan was back in the driver’s seat and Phil had his earbuds in once more, leaning against the window as he gazed out of it.

Neither said anything as they crossed the state line. There was still another 45 minutes to go, but it was better than an hour, or two, or three…

Before either of them knew it, they were pulling off 95 and weaving their way through smaller highways, and then finally through country backroads, over scenic hills and rolling farm lands and idealistic quintessential New England towns, until finally they rolled past a sign for Blairestown, New Jersey, a town that up until today they’d never heard about. It was dark by now, and they’d have to find a place to stay, but for now they found a parking space outside a local hardware store and climbed out of the car to stretch their sore and aching bodies.

“So this is it,” Phil muttered, looking around at the town bathed by streetlamps.

“This is it,” Dan repeated in agreement.

“Not much to it, is there?”

“Never seems to be.”

Phil couldn’t argue with that.

Dan locked the car and they took a walk down the town’s main street’s sidewalk.

“What do you think?” Dan asked after a few minutes.

“I think there’s more to the story,” Phil replied.

“I think so too. Should we head back and get some sleep and figure out the rest tomorrow?”

“I suppose. And we should probably get our story straight,” Phil mentioned.

“Or gay,” Dan couldn’t help but joke, trying to throw in a smile.

Phil smiled back. “You’re right. Queer it up in here.”

They made their way back to the car and Phil pulled up places to stay the night near the town.

They ended up driving about twenty minutes back out of town where they pulled into a chain motel and booked a room for the night.

Dan took a hot shower, and when he exited the bathroom, Phil was already on his bed near the room’s windows, curled up, and facing away from Dan.

Dan grabbed his phone off the motel room desk and plopped on his own bed, opening his screen and looking through his social media, half expecting Phil to roll over and start a conversation with him- but he didn’t.

Dan could feel Phil’s mind racing, turning everything between them over and over again. It didn’t seem like that healthy of a distraction from the murders, but Dan supposed anything was better than thinking about dead children and the way their bodies had been slashed, leaving flaps and folds of flesh flopping, dripping with blood…

Dan shuddered. He needed a distraction too.

The air between them was tense, and Dan could feel a sort of emotional pain radiating off of Phil. He found that if he focused too much on that as well, he started to feel it too. Was Phil always feeling like this? Maybe that’s why he constantly had earbuds in, trying to drown out the feelings with anything… as far as Dan knew, Phil didn’t drink or smoke or take anything except some anxiety and depression medication. Maybe focusing on his own pain stopped him from feeling all the pain of those around him. Was that really any better, though?

Dan wanted to talk about things, to work them out, he really did, but he couldn’t let himself open that box right now. He needed to focus on the case. He couldn’t let himself feel… well, feel like Phil felt. Phil was good at compartmentalizing his pain, but it was like he reached down inside himself when he could and took it out, holding it, observing it, ruminating over it… it was almost an indulgence. Maybe that’s why he didn’t need any drugs. It was like he was addicted to his own pain. Dan would never say that, though, at least not out loud… there’d been a time between them, just a little, when Phil’d been able to put the pain of his brother’s death behind him, and where he’d been able to smile, to laugh… ever since Dan got back from Quantico, though, things had changed. Or maybe they’d changed before that, and he just hadn’t noticed. He hadn’t let himself notice.

Dan was a loner at heart. Relationships just made things more complicated. All types of relationships. Even his relationship with Jake was a potential burdon: sure, they knew each other well and were comfortable in each other’s presence, and that had it’s merits, it’s benefits, but if anything were to happen could Dan trust himself to make the right call? A call that needed to be made, for better or for worse? Maybe when he was out of the field, retired, or some old sod of a police chief in a sleepy New England town, he could relax a little… though, from where they were sitting now, it didn’t seem like that was the best case scenario either. He really didn’t want to believe that a department would cover up a serial killer, but he knew that a lot of police forces did a lot of things that weren’t right, even if they felt like they were… that’s why Dan couldn’t let emotions get in the way. That’s why he had to box it all up. He’d open that box soon, as soon as this case was solved, but he couldn’t, not now.

Dan was pulled from his thoughts by Phil rolling over in his bed to face Dan, but still Phil didn’t say anything. Dan left him to his own musings.

Finally Dan shut his phone off and placed it on the bedside table. They had a long day ahead of them tomorrow, and he needed to get a good night’s sleep in order to be the best cop he could. To be the cop that those kids needed. If not in life, then at least in death.

*-*-*-*-*

When Dan woke up Phil wasn’t in the room. He was surprised; Phil was almost never up before him.

Dan grabbed a change of clothes for the day from his bag and carried them into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him. While he was in there he heard Phil come back into the room.

Dan opened the bathroom door and took a few trepid steps out to see what Phil was up to.

Phil had a plate with a blueberry bagel piled with cream cheese on it that was already partially eaten.

“None for me?” Dan joked, testing the waters.

Phil glanced up but didn’t say anything.

The waters were icy cold.

Dan wanted to complain about how these days he never could predict what mood Phil would be in, though he remembered what he was like when they were on the road hunting down Martyn’s killers, and he figured he didn’t really have room to criticize. It’d be nice if they could go back to having a relationship outside of all the murder and mayhem they seemed to run into together. Or maybe this was just how it was meant to be between them.

Dan left the room without saying anything else to go get himself something to eat. There were a few muffins left to choose from, along with a few other options, so he grabbed one and placed it on a plate. He scoped out the containers of pre-packaged single-serve cereal containers and grabbed an Apple Jacks, peeling the wrapper off and filling it with milk from the container in the mini fridge. Dan snagged a plastic spoon from the utensil area and brought everything back to their room.

Phil was in the motel room’s shower. Dan could hear the water running from where he sat at the desk eating his Apple Jacks as he scrolled on his phone. He’d been trying to rack his brain for an idea for a reason why they should be allowed to see the bodies, why they were there at all, anything… but his mind was drawing a blank. Seemed like they always had the perfect story in shows like Supernatural. Show up saying you’re the FBI. “Well no one called the FBI” but there they were. Only Dan really was FBI. And if they did call, it would be an issue. Dan huffed. Everything was better in Hollywood.

Dan heard the water in the bathroom stop just as he was fishing for the last pieces of his cereal in the tiny plastic bowl.

He was just sipping up the last of his milk when Phil emerged from the bathroom, towel wrapped around his waist, wet hair hanging down above his bright blue eyes.

Dan spit up on the milk in his mouth and looked away.

“Oh, god, Dan, I’m- I forgot a shirt, and I knew you were down getting breakfast. I guess I thought I had more time.”

Phil’s eyes shifted between Dan and Phil’s open overnight bag on his bed- all the way on the other side of the room as the temperature in Dan’s face continued to rise.

“Do you need me to…” Dan gestured at the bag on Phil’s bed, keeping his eyes pointed directly towards the floor so he could only make out the vague shape of Phil and any movements in his peripheral.

“Uh, yeah, sure, maybe that would be best. Sorry, I-”

“No, it’s fine,” Dan waved a hand, trying to brush away Phil’s concern.

He set down his little plastic cup of cereal and pushed his chair out from the desk to stand up and walk over to Phil’s bed.

Dan grabbed a shirt from the bag, balled it up, and tossed it. It started to fall flat, so on instinct, Phil leaned over Dan’s bed to try and catch it, the towel haphazardly slipping from around his waist. Phil ended up being pulled in two directions as he tried to grab both the shirt and keep the towel around himself.

“Jesus Christ,” Dan muttered, turning to look out the window. “Fix yourself and then get back in the fucking bathroom.

He heard Phil sigh quietly and shuffle back into the bathroom.

*-*-*-*-*

“What if we said we had heard a local rumor about a string of murders-”

“No, because we don’t want them to know that we know it’s murder,” Dan reminded him.

Phil let out a dramatic sigh and flopped backwards on the bed.

Phil had been sitting on Dan’s bed with his long legs draped over the edge while Dan sat backwards in the desk chair, arms crossed over the back of the chair. They’d been talking around in circles for almost half an hour at this point, trying to come up with a reasonable cover story, but it seemed like no matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t come up with anything.

“Let’s start from the beginning,” Phil suggested, sitting back up.

Dan nodded.

“Where did we hear about the murders?”

“The suicides,” Dan reminded him.

“Where did we hear about the suicides?” Phil corrected.

“On the news.”

“And why did we watch the news?”

Dan paused.

“Because Big Brother is always watching,” Phil continued on.

“We can’t use that,” Dan patronized.

“Why not? It’s true isn’t it?”

“No,” Dan argued.

“Did we not scope out the news to find this story?”

“Yes.”

“Are we not the FBI?”

“We are…”

“Then we scoped out the news because we were looking for strange deaths that we think may be connected to an active case the FBI is working.”

“Right.”

“The team working on this mysterious homicide down in Texas flagged the news report as suspicious.”

“Okaaaay-”

“And now we’re here to check it out as representatives of that team.”

“Fine.”

Phil smirked. “Next. What do we need to claim jurisdiction?”

“Jake said that we needed to be invited.”

“But not if it’s suspected to be related to another homicide in a different state, right? That would give us jurisdiction.”

“Yes, but we need evidence to link it to that homicide. Your prophetic dreams are not evidence.”

“When?”

“When what?”

“When do we need evidence by?”

Dan shook his head. “Are you seriously suggesting we look for evidence to fit the crime?”

Phil shrugged.

“No. That doesn’t make us any better than them.”

Phil rolled his eyes, exacerbated. “What choice do we have? Of course we’re better than them! We’re actually trying to find out who did this to them!”

“So you want me to tell the FBI we have evidence that links these two cases and then find that evidence later?”

“Yes.”

Dan sat for a moment chewing his lips.

“Fine. Then we still need them to declare murder. Or we need someone from the FBI to come down on reasonable evidence to take a look at the case to declare murder.”

“We don’t have the evidence yet to bring down someone from the FBI yet, though.”

“Meaning they have to admit murder first so that we have a justifiable reason to claim why we looked for evidence in something that was declared a suicide.”

“Maybe we can just see how it goes while we’re there,” Phil suggested.

“You want to hinge this whole plan on hoping we can convince the officer in charge to change the rulings to murder?”

“It’s what we got. It hasn’t failed us so far.”

Dan rolled his eyes.

“Actually it nearly got us killed last time.”

“Good thing I can deflect bullets with my mind,” Phil smiled toothily.

“Jesus Christ.”

*-*-*-*-*

Dan pulled into a parking space on the side of the road across the street from the police station.

“You better hope this works,” he muttered towards Phil as he ejected himself from the driver’s seat.

The police department was small, smaller even than the one Dan had worked at.

The front desk was devoid of a receptionist, leaving only a bell on the desk. Phil reached over and pressed the button down gently, giving it a little ring.

The chief of police himself wandered in from the room behind the desk.

“Can I help you?”

“Hi, I’m Detective Howell and this is my associate, Mr. Lester. We’re with the FBI,vrepresenting a team looking into suspicious deaths across the country, and some of our detectives flagged the recent string of suicides as suspicious, and sent us down here to take a look.”

“What kind of suspicious deaths?” The police chief asked.

“We’re looking at a murder case-”

“Well these were suicides.”

“Right,” Dan agreed, tersely. “But see we have reason to believe-”

The police chief started to turn around.

“Wait!” Phil called.

The man turned back around to face him.

Phil held his hands out by his sides, fingers splayed apart ever so slightly. He looked at the man directly in the eyes, and gathered his strength inside him, and then… pushed.

“Are you sure you don’t want to have the coroner look at the bodies again?” Phil asked.

The man huffed and snorted in laughter, but he didn’t move.

Phil reached down within himself, pulling reserves he didn’t even know he had, reaching, reaching as if into his very life force itself, pushing himself harder than he ever had.

“Are you sure you don’t want to have the coroner look at the bodies again?” Phil repeated.

The police chief looked at Phil and Phil felt himself within the man’s mind. Phil pushed his will onto the man as hard as he could.

The police chief stared at Phil and Phil stared back.

Dan looked around, half expecting the lights to flicker or Phil’s nose to start bleeding.

But slowly, the police chief said

“Maybe I will, yeah.”

And he turned around and started going back the way he came.

Phil let go of all the energy he’d been holding and stumbled, caught by Dan.

“See, I told you. You’re like fucking Eleven.”

Phil smiled tiredly.

*-*-*-*-*

Phil was too weak to follow the p0lice chief into the back of the building and down the stairs to the mortuary, so Dan went alone.

When they got there, the coroner was sitting at his desk reading a stack of papers.

“Dr. Cadwell, this man’s from the FBI. He says that these deaths might be related to some murders they’re looking into.”

The coroner glanced from the police chief to Dan slowly.

“Well, you told me to classify these as suicides,” the corner reminded him, speaking slowly and deliberately. Dan got the impression the coroner was against the idea.

“Well, why don’t you take another look,” the police chief suggested, nodding.

The corner looked past the police chief directly at Dan.

“Do you need me to sign these off as murders so you can take the case.”

“Well…” Dan scratched the top of his head.

The coroner dropped the paper he was reading.

“Done. Just give me the paperwork to sign.”

*-*-*-*-*

“Good news, we got the officer to change the ruling to murder, and enough evidence to warrant sending down an official FBI team to look into the possible connection with the homicides at Camp Crystal Lake in Texas.”

Dan was on the phone outside the police department.

“That’s great! What’s the evidence?”

Dan didn’t speak

“What’s the evidence?” Jake repeated cheerily.

He was met with more silence.

“Seriously? What am I supposed to tell them?”

“Jake, we’ll find something, I promise-”

“It’s not eno-”

“Jake please.”

This time it was Dan that was met with silence.

“Fine. But you better deliver.”

*-*-*-*-*

Dan walked back into the police station and sat next to Phil in one of the chairs in the waiting area.

“I’ll find something, I promise,” Phil mumbled, clearly exhausted.

“I know you will, just be careful, okay?”

Phil nodded tiredly.

Dan stood up again and held out a hand to Phil, who took it. Dan pulled him up and Phil wabbled on his feet before steading himself.

“Do you need to sit for a little while longer?” Dan asked.

“No,” Phil replied, against his better judgment. “Maybe there’s a stool downstairs,” he smiled woozily.

Dan guided Phil down the stairs with one of his arms around Dan’s broad shoulders. It worked out well that Phil was just a tad bit taller than Dan: he was able to lean into Dan as they made their way down the staircase bathed in a horrid sickly green artificial light. The light hummed and flickered at they made their way down. Dan glanced at Phil.

“Cool as it would be, that’s not me,” he smiled half-heartedly.

Dan nodded back, and they continued down the stairs.

He left Phil leaning up against the stairway wall as he pushed and held open the door.

The coroner was still sitting at his desk reading his paperwork.

“I suppose you want a look at these bodies, then?” he called in a monotone voice, eyes still scanning the typed text.

“That’d be great, thanks. And some gloves.”

At that, the coroner looked up.

“Hands-on kind of agents, yeah? Don’t get a lot of those. Not that we get a lot of agents ‘round here to begin with.”

He placed the papers down on his desk and pushed his chair back to stand up.

“Must make the job boring,” Phil suggested.

“Makes the job easier,” the coroner corrected.

He didn’t bother to introduce himself as he handed both of them a pair of gloves.

“What can you tell us about the bodies?” Dan asked.

“Well,” the coroner eyed each of them, “they’re a real mess.”

The coroner opened a row of four body storage chamber along the wall, pulling out each exam table and revealing the four dead kids. Three boys and one girl.

Each body was covered in long slashes that looked like they’d been made by some sort of machinery.

“Do you have any idea what could have made these marks?” Dan asked.

The corner beckoned them over to the first body- the body of Chris. The teen had slashes all across his chest and neck, as well as his arms. Dr. Cadwell gestured to the mosaic of marks across the boy’s chest.

“If you look, a lot of the marks seem to have been made in groupings- I’m not sure if you can tell, but it looks like four or five slashes at once here. Not only that, but the slashes look like they were made by something that was able to bend- so, not like the tongs of a pitch-fork, for example, but something that had a hinge joint. The weapon was small enough to be easily wielded, as you can tell by the different directions the marks made. I know this sounds almost Hollywoodish, but it almost looks like how the average person would expect a body mauled by a bear to look like.”

Dan and Phil exchanged glances.

Dr. Cadwell turned his attention towards Dan.

“You said you thought these deaths might be related to another case you guys were looking into. Are these marks the same as the ones that were made on the other victims?”

Phil looked at Dan too, wondering how he’d answer.

“No,” Dan answered truthfully. “We have other evidence that links these cases. We don’t believe the same weapon was used.”

“And I’m assuming that link is classified?” Dr. Cadwell asked.

“Unfortunately, yes.”

“Do you have information about what kind of weapon you think might have done this?” Dr. Cadwell asked.

Phil looked to Dan again, following his lead.

“We do, actually,” Dan said.

“And are you at liberty to share that?” Dr. Cadwell asked.

“What makes you think these are homicides?” Dan countered first.

“Well, they didn’t take place at the same time, so it wasn’t a freak accident. I understand that drugs were found in the system of the last two victims there, and there’s a very good and real possibility they took them together, but to have such precise wounds that were made over and over again be self-inflicted is just highly unlikely. I’m not saying it was a homicide, but it certainly wasn’t suicide, in my opinion.”

Dan chewed on his lip as he nodded, mulling over the words that Dr. Cadwell was saying.

“We think the weapon was a home-made tool,” Dan offered.

“Okay…” Dr. Cadwell trailed off. When it didn’t seem like Dan was going to offer up more information voluntarily, he followed up with “And do you have a guess as to what exactly that tool is?”

“Well…” this time it was Dan that trailed off, feeling like he would sound ridiculous. He remembered what Dr. Cadwell had said though, about how the marks on the bodies looked like a Hollywood bear attack, and figured maybe the coroner wouldn’t think they were so crazy after all. Plus, they were the FBI, he reminded himself. Their reputation preceded them- or at least, he hoped it did.

“Basically, we think the killer-”

“‘Killer’, singular?” Dr. Cadwell checked.

“Yes, ‘killer’, singular,” Dan confirmed. “We think the killer, singular made a sort of… glove… with long blades on the end, almost like claws.”

“So a glove that the killer wore with home-made claws on the end?”

“Essentially, yes.”

Dr. Cadwell stood in silence, gazing down at the bodies again with this new information.

“I suppose that makes sense. And are you sure that’s what it was?”

Dan shot a quick glance over at Phil.

“We’re pretty sure. We’re staking our case on it as of right now.”

Dr. Cadwell nodded. “Gotchya. Well, yeah, I mean, that lines up. That would make sense why sometimes there are four slices and sometimes there are five. The thumb would make the anomaly. I still have a lot of questions, though, if that is the case.”

“Like what?” Phil asked.

Dr. Cadwell glanced at him almost startled, as if he hadn’t expected Phil to be speaking at all.

“Well, for example, if what you say is true, and an unnamed killer broke into the house of our last two victims here, for example, then why were they found lying otherwise untouched in the bed? I understand they were drugged, and that they have defensive wounds, but did they just get slashed to pieces, and the killer left, so they decided to just continue to lay down and hold hands while dying? I mean, from the crime scene photos, it doesn’t look like there was any attempt made by either of them to stop their bleeding, get help, anything. And not only that, but there was at least one parent in the home as far as I’m aware during the time of this supposed murder. How was this committed with no one seeing or hearing anything?”

“There are examples of cases where other people in the homes were unaware of a murder being taken place in another part of the house,” Dan offered up.

“Right, and how many of these people end up in prison afterwards on murder charges?”

Dan didn’t respond.

“We have some theories as to how it could have went down,” Phil offered up.

The coroner looked at him skeptically.

“What are you, some kind of X-Files division?”

Dan chuckled. “I’m sure we’ve been called that before.”

“Actually,” Phil explained, “we think the killer has some sort of supernatural powers that allows him to attack people in their sleep, and that’s why the kids drugged themselves with Diazepam: to go after him.”

The corner scoffed a little and raised his eyebrows slightly.

“Didn’t know feds had a sense of humor.”

“Do we look like your regular feds?” Phil asked with a small smirk.

“You’re right, you’re right,” the coroner threw his hands up in defeat.

“Well, you seem to know what you’re looking for, so how about you take a look, and I’ll assist in any way I can.”

“Sounds good, thanks.”

He moved out of the way to allow Dan and Phil access to Chris’s body.

“Did you know any of these kids?” Phil asked while Dan peered up and down Chris’s body with his hands tucked carefully behind his back.

“Not personally. Recognize them from around town. Maybe knew names and parents. Probably didn’t speak to them more than a ‘hello’ or an ‘excuse me’.”

Dan gave Phil a look like he was asking him if Phil was going to take a look at the bodies or not. Phil moved to trade places with Dan. He didn’t really know what exactly he was looking for, so he figured he would start from the head down. As much as he’d met dead people, he’d never actually touched a dead body, or been in such close proximity to one.

Phil pushed past all his natural instincts in order to start ruffling through Chris’s hair while Dan asked more questions about the town and the area and the victims. Phil had forgotten they didn’t actually know the last two victim’s names.

“Yeah, Tony and Maria. Grew up across the street from each other as soon as her family moved from Puerto Rico, or so I’m told. We have a population of Puerto Rican folks that live around here. Everything else is pretty white though. And she was the only victim of color, so I doubt it was a racial crime. You don’t have any motive, do you? Sick fucks like this don’t usually have a motive outside of wanting to kill kids. Were your other victims all kids too?”

“Yeah, they were,” Dan asked.

“And what case did you say you were linking it to?”

“I didn’t,” Dan smiled coyly.

Phil moved down to Chris’s face. He peeled the eyelids back and looked into the soulless eyes, and then opened the mouth. He felt awful about it, and really hoped he wouldn’t have to speak to any of these kids later on after pawing at their corpses, but he knew it was the smart thing to do. At least none of them were here, now.

Phil moved down towards Chris’s chest, trying his best to remove the emotions that came flooding when he looked at the ragged and torn skin. The blood had all been drained and washed off the body, since in declaring it a suicide there was no need to preserve evidence. Phil brushed his fingered gloves lightly over the deep grooves.

“Tragic, isn’t it? And they wanted me to call it a suicide.”

Phil looked up at him.

“So why did you?”

Dr. Cadwell shrugged. “They pay my salary. I gave them my educated opinion, but at the end of the day it’s the cops who decide whether to investigate further. Not little ole me.”

Phil didn’t like that answer, but he didn’t say anything. Instead, he turned his attention back down the the pale, lifeless body in front of him. Phil shuffled a few steps over and brought himself to the cadaver’s waist.

Doubting he would find anything of use in the groin region, Phil delicately skipped over the area and moved towards the body’s legs. Still, there was nothing of significance. Not even once Phil reached the soles of the feet with a white tag wrapped daintily around the child’s big toe did Phil find anything.

“Can you roll him over for me?” Phil asked, glancing at the doctor in one last bid.

“I suppose.”

Phil moved out of the way as the doctor ungracefully pulled the body over and rolled it to the other side on the thin metal slab.

Phil went through the hair on the scalp again, this time on the back of the head. Still nothing.

Phil ran his fingers down the back of the boys neck. There was a mark. He could have sworn it wasn’t there before.

Phil hesitated.

“Can I see your notes?” Phil asked, trying his best to sound casual.

“Why? Did you find something?”

Phil cursed in his mind.

“I don’t know, maybe.”

Phil reluctantly moved his fingers away as the doctor moved to look down at the body.

“What the hell? That wasn’t there before. I’m sure of it.”

While the doctor was busy squinting down at Chris’s neck Phil shot Dan a concerned look.

When the doctor stepped away Dan moved in to look down at it.

On the back of the boys neck were two small letters: I and X. Together, they made the roman numeral nine.

The doctor looked between them.

“That wasn’t there before. I’m sure of it,” he repeated, firmer this time.

Dan’s eyes scanned the body as rapidly as he sorted through his thoughts.

“I’d like my associate to check the other bodies, if you would.”

The doctor furrowed his brown at Dan while Phil went to the next body, the body of PJ. Trying to quell his stomach, he gently moved PJ’s head to the side so the back of his neck was exposed. There was nothing.

Hands shaking, Phil reached out again, gently brushing the back of the body’s neck. When he pulled his hand away, there again was the same mark.

Quickly Phil moved to the bodies of Maria and Tony under the pretense of checking them and revealed the mark on each of them.

“This has to be a joke. You’re planting some kind of evidence.” The doctor accused.

“Are you suggesting we somehow gave the bodies cuts?” Dan asked. He glanced down at the cadavers. “They don’t look fresh.”

The doctor glanced down at the marks on each of the bodies again.

“If you had t0 guess, when do you think those marks were made?”

The doctor pursed his lips. “Shortly after death,” he replied.

“So then how could we have just put them there?” Dan argued.

The doctor didn’t answer.

“This is the link we were looking for,” he said to Phil in a matter-of-fact tone.

“I agree,” Phil nodded, trying his best not to look as turmoiled as he felt. He was just a professional doing his job. Nothing more and nothing less.

“If you’ll excuse us, we have a phone call to make.”

Dan turned before the doctor could protest more.

Together, he and Phil climbed the stairs and walked out of the police station.

“Did you put those there?” Dan asked Phil, looking him directly in the eye once they were out of earshot.

“I don’t know.” Phil’s voice quivered.

Dan started pacing back and forth.

“Dan, I’m scared,” Phil admitted.

Dan looked at him.

“Why?”

“Dan, what if I’m the one doing this?” Phil suggested again.

Dan stomped over to Phil and clapped a hand on Phil’s shoulder.

“You’re not doing this, Phil. We saw someone do this. It wasn’t you.”

A tear slipped out of Phil’s eye and he hurriedly wiped it away.

“Look, just, wait in the car, okay? Wait in the car.”

More tears started to slip out of Phil’s diamond-blue eyes. He’s scared of me, he thought to himself.

“I’m NOT scared of you,” Dan snapped. “Just wait in the car while I figure this out!”

Phil dropped his head and stomped over to the passenger side of Dan’s car. He glanced at the tab on the inside of the car door and yanked it up, grabbing at the car handle and pulling. He threw himself inside and slammed the door shut without touching a thing.

It was there that he finally let himself drop his head into his sleeves and let out a quick muffled crying.

After a few second of loud and heavy breathing Phil lifted his head from his sleeved hands, pulled himself together, and stared out the windshield at Dan pacing on the phone.

Phil’s eyes shifted to the passenger door and he grabbed the window handle, slowly turning the knob, watching out the windshield to make sure Dan didn’t notice.

“Yeah, we found a link. No, I can’t tell you what it is. No, I don’t know what it means. Look, Phil’s freaking out, he thinks that he did this…” Dan trailed off. “He didn’t,” he practically growled into the phone, visibly upset. Phil watched him as he continued to pace up and down the sidewalk, tears slowly continuing to fall from his face.

“Tough luck, huh?”

Phil jumped, glancing up from the windshield to the rearview mirror. In the glass’s reflection, he could see two teens sitting in the back of the car. A girl with dark hair pulled back into a ponytail and a boy with slicked back hair. He recognized them immediately.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you.”

The girl turned her head to look out the window while the boy looked past Phil out the windshield.

“Tough luck, huh?” he asked, repeating what the girl had said. “Guess it’s going around.”

The girl turned her attention back to Phil.

“They think we killed ourselves,” Maria said, getting straight to the point.

Phil shook his head. “No, no they don’t. I changed his mind. I told him you didn’t.”

“Is that what happened?” Tony asked.

Phil nodded but try as he might, he couldn’t say anything.

“‘The Romeo and Juliet Suicides’. Poetic, isn’t it?” Maria smirked.

“They’ll never know what happened.” Tony sounded far away as he continued to stare out the window.

“No, I’ll tell them what happened,” Phil argued.

“You don’t even know what’s happening up there,” Maria countered, throwing a nod at Phil.

“I didn’t do this,” he said.

She looked at him up and down.

“How should we know? The man had a mask.”

Phil blinked in surprise.

“A mask?”

“Yeah, a mask. Some creepy burn-faced mask. And a mark.” Maria turned her head to look out the window again.

“A mark?”

“Yeah.”

“What kind of a mark?”

“Some letters,” she said, watching as someone passed by Dan on the phone walking down the sidewalk.

“What letters?”

“An I and an X,” Tony chimed in. “It was a nine. The roman numeral nine.”

#ospbb #slasher horror #80s horror #dan and phil #dan howell #phil lester #daniel howell #savvy’s fics #old school phandom big bang #ospbb 2023 #phandom #phanfic

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sisterdaniellasgayawakening · 7 months ago

Note

helloo! ask game so we can tag phan!! shuffle your favorite playlist and post the first five songs that come up + if you think they can be related to DnP or not. Copy/paste this ask to your favorite mutuals!!

hii!!! I love this idea omg

I'll shuffle a few playlists for variety

1. (from soft playlist) Cowboy like Me by Taylor Swift - 'dancing is a dangerous game,' 'takes one to know one, you're a cowboy like me' and just the whole theme of forbidden love can be linked to dnp hiding their sexualities

2. (same playlist) Sweet Nothing (also by Taylor, what are the chances haha!) - it's a very domestic song :)) and the line 'you're in the kitchen humming' reminds me of Phil talking about dan playing the piano and it being background music in their home<3

3. (from 2000s pop and pop punk playlist) Let's Get It Started Remix by the Black Eyed Peas - Dan loves the Black Eyed Peas!

4. (same playlist) Murder on the Dancefloor by Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Dan mentioned how much Phil dislikes how posh the singer is back in a 2010 vyou stream, and played it to annoy him, and they had a similar conversation on the radio show years later (without mentioning Phil hating it of course haha!)

5. (my kinda outdated favourites playlist, but not outdated with this song!) Too Sweet by Hozier - the traits of the speaker seem to line up with both dnp/dan specifically (staying up really late, working a ton, ordering takeout (not mentioned there but they do that a lot and I feel like it fits into the song with the whole 'you treat your mouth as if its heavens gate' part))

this was so fun tysm for asking!!

#ask games #phan #dnp #<3

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julesthoughts · 2 years ago

Text

Trap of Lies

Chapter 26

This is a dark AU collaboration started by @x3kristax3. You can find the other chapters here.

TW: Torture, violence, detailed scenes of violence, light sexual acts

Phil POV

Completely drained, I stood in my bathroom and reviewed the evening. I looked at my hands, still dirty with dirt and blood from the nasty son of a bitch and his horse. I went to my bathroom and washed my hands and face. I took off the dirty clothes and put on fresh clothes.

I saw the remaining blood residue in my sink that was not washed away by the water. I cleaned up the remaining blood and burned my clothes in my oven as there was no point in trying to clean them.

A thousand thoughts ran through my mind, but they all ended in relief. We were able to save MC in time and the devil of the whole drama is finally dead. Jessy promised to take care of MC because she saw that I still had something to do.

I braced myself with both hands on the sink and lifted my head. I saw myself reflected in my mirror. It still wasn't over. We had to find the devil's father.

"Agnus Barnett," I whispered. "Where are you?"

It was maddening! I asked each of the Whispers if anyone had heard that name before. Nobody knew him, but there had to be someone.

He's got people he bossed around. He did not run this business alone, he had employees. This man knew how to hide himself. He was the master at hiding and running such a big business.

I couldn't do this alone, I needed help from someone I trusted 100%. Dan. I immediately made my way to Dan, although it was the middle of the night, he was always willing to help me. I walked to his house because I didn't want to draw attention to myself.

When I arrived, I knocked firmly on his door and he opened the door a little annoyed. "Can't you even wait until morning?" he asked me grumpily.

"No time," I hissed and immediately I saw regret on Dan's face. Not wanting to contradict me, he let me in.

He tiredly ran his fingers through his hair and got his clothes to change. I looked at him confused and he just raised an eyebrow knowingly. "I know that look, you didn't come here for a tea party."

It's been a while, but with this sentence, Dan actually managed to make me smirk. Dan got dressed and then approached me, putting a hand on my shoulder. "You look like you just committed murder."

When he didn't get an answer, his eyes widened. "Shit, who did you kill?"

"Alan, finally. But that's another story. We have to find the devil's father."

I took the blame on myself first, I didn't want to implicate MC even though she ended up being the one who killed him.

Dan suddenly looked at me seriously, "Do you know anything? Did you find out anything?"

"No!" I almost yelled, desperate. "But someone has to know something. I want to keep Jake out of it so he can focus on his new business.

"Amy," Dan suggested. "She might know something, after all she adores Alan and would do anything for him."

"How do you know that?" I asked.

"Jake told me she said she saved MC. I don't really believe it, but one thing's for sure, she'd die for him. She doesn't have to know Alan's dead, but we can pressure her to do that her answers could save his life."

"I knew you would be of great help to me. Now we just have to find out where she is."

I was glad I turned to Dan, he was always reliable, even if he could be a bit grumpy at times. Now all we had to do was find out where Amy was. I could see that Dan was already brooding.

"Any idea where Amy might be? The prostitutes are all over town, it would take us forever to find her," I paused. "Wait! I have an idea. I'm sure Charlotte can figure something out."

Dan nodded and we made our way to my bar. Once there I found Charlotte at a table with a man. I gave her a knowing look and she said goodbye to the man and walked towards me.

"What do you need to know?" she asked, since she already knew that look from me.

"Find out where Amy is at the moment, nothing else matters for now."

She nodded and got to work. Dan and I went to my office and tried to think if we really didn't know Agnus.

It wasn't long before there was a gentle knock on my door. I opened the door and Charlotte's eyes looked at me proudly. She whispered, "There's some kind of brothel across town, that's where she works."

I thanked Charlotte and nodded for Dan to follow me. I put a staff member in charge of running the bar. As we walked out of the bar, we made plans for how best to get to Amy.

"We register like normal guests and say that we would like to see Amy. Simple and uncomplicated," said Dan.

I hesitated, "It's a good idea per se, but I don't want to be recognized. I don't need rumors."

"Then we'll dress up a bit. A hat and a fake beard will do," Dan said, and we made our way over to his house. After we dressed up, I had to smile a little. A beard didn't suit me at all, but I had to go through with it now.

We took a carriage and made our way to the other side of town. We parked the carriage and got out. We entered the strange building and arrived at some kind of reception. A black-haired woman was sitting at the reception and there were men everywhere, smartly dressed. It must be the pimps.

Dan addressed the lady, "We'd both like to see Amy."

I was expecting everything, but not her next words, "No need to be so formal here. Room 9, she'll do whatever you want."

I grinned internally. Will she also answer our questions?

We both looked for room 9 and found it. We knocked and a gentle voice called us in. As she turned around, she gulped hard. She recognized us.

"You're not here to consider my service and I was about to leave anyway."

Dan chuckled darkly, "The receptionist told us that you do everything for us. I'm sure you'll also answer a few questions for us."

"What do you want? I have a date with Alan!"

I roared laughing, "Oh, I guess this isn't going to work out."

"What does this mean?" she asked in panic.

Dan took a step towards her, "If you want to see your beloved prince, then answer our questions."

She sat on the bed, sighed, and gestured for us to ask."

"Where is Alan's father?" I fell right in with the door, I didn't want to waste any more time.

She looked at us in shock, "How do you know I work for him?" She immediately put her hand to her mouth.

"That's easier than I thought," Dan chuckled. She shook her head in disbelief at her own stupidity.

"So, you know more than we thought. Well, I'm waiting for an answer."

"I don't know. For heaven's sake, I'm just a prostitute. He won't tell anyone where he is, at least that's what Alan always tells me."

"But you know who works for him, give us a name and location of this person."

She hung her head and said nothing more. I was right, she knew who worked for him. Dan sat down in a chair and spread his legs. "Either you answer this question now or you have to satisfy me."

I saw disgust on her face, Dan didn't seem to be her thing at all, and he seemed to have noticed and taken advantage of it. He knew that she would never willingly touch him if he gave her the choice.

She walked up to Dan, putting each hand on his knees and looking deep into his eyes. "I've had to touch more obnoxious guys than you. Come on, take off your pants. I'll satisfy you."

Dan smiled. What was going on in his head? "That's your job, if you're supposed to please me then you're supposed to do all the work."

With that, she winced and made a gagging sound. "Fine! You won. The name is Poke, he sells his wares in a park, behind a shabby shack. I don't know what time he is there though."

"There you go," Dan said as he rose from his chair.

"Are you releasing Alan? I gave you answers!"

This time I chuckled darkly, "Oh he's been free for a long time."

She looked at us confused and so we left her. She was lucky that she was a woman and not a man. No matter how much I detested a woman, I don't hurt a woman's hair.

Dan and I left the building and took the carriage to said park. I felt we had a better chance of finding this poke at night. We pulled our fake beards off our faces and parked the carriage a little further from the park.

We sneaked through the park to the shabby shack. We heard a branch snap behind the shack and immediately I ran behind the shack and there was a stranger to me.

"Poke?" I asked.

"Jesus Christ, who told you my name? What do you want to buy?"

"Answers."

As he tried to run away, Dan grabbed his collar and pushed him against the back door of the shack and to our surprise the door swung open. Dan didn't hesitate and shoved him into the cabin where he slammed into the opposite wall. I followed Dan into the shack and locked the door from the inside.

When I turned around, I saw Dan standing behind the man, holding a knife to his neck. He was helpless at our mercy.

"So, Poke, I'll ask you questions and you'll answer them well."

He just nodded and flinched as the blade of the knife digged a bit into his neck from his nod.

"Where's Agnus?"

"I don't know," he said pleadingly.

"Lie!" I roared and looked around the shack. This seemed to be the gardener's hut, since only gardening tools were lying around here. Everyone knows garden tools are the best torture tools.

I took a smaller saw and took Poke's hand and sawed off his pinky. He cried out, but I slapped him, and he just whimpered while blood dripped onto the floor.

"Answer me or all your fingers will be off."

He didn't say anything, and I held the saw to his ring finger. A grinding noise arose as I took an extra long time on his bone. I looked deep into his eyes, but still got no answer, so I cut off his next finger.

The game went on until all his fingers were off and there was a puddle of blood beneath us. Tears streamed down his face, and I saw that he was about to finally answer me.

I put his fingerless hand in front of his eyes and put the saw on his wrist. "Last chance," I threatened him.

I began to rock the saw back and forth slowly, letting him watch as I sawed his wrist. I kept sawing but stopped when I sawed through his bone and left his hand hanging on a piece of skin. He saw his wrist swinging on a thread of skin in front of him.

I took his fingerless hand and yanked with all my might, skinning part of his forearm in the process. His wrist fell to the ground with a loud splash, and he cried out at the top of his lungs.

And he answered.

"Ah shit! He lives in a rather large mansion, he spends all day there and rarely leaves it. The villa is only guarded from the inside. It's very isolated. In the middle of the forest, there is no street and no house number."

"How many guards?"

"Five or six. Two stand right in front of his office. Two stand at the entrance of the house and there are usually two walking around the mansion."

He was getting weak, and I could see Dan using all his muscles to keep holding him up.

"End him," I said to Dan.

Dan dropped him on the ground, leaned over him and slit his throat. Blood spurted out of him and for a brief moment I saw gratitude in his eyes. I didn't really want to go that far, but the thought of Alan getting his drugs from his own father's business infuriated me. And those drugs he used on MC.

MC had never done anything to anyone but Alan, but he deserved it.

We left the cabin, we took the carriage to Dan's house and we planned to find Agnus before dawn. The thought of what Richy and Alan had done to MC brought out the inner beast in me.

We didn't bother to clean up, just thinking how to find this mansion in the vast forests. We decided to stop by Alan's house and see if we could find anything. Once there, we broke down his front door and searched everything. Dan winced when he saw the huge bloodstain on the floor.

I roughly explained to him what had happened, and that MC is now safe.

"Good thing that son of a bitch is finally dead," said Dan.

I just nodded when I found an envelope. Inside the envelope was a painting of a mansion, and Dan gasped. "I know this mansion, how could I forget that! I rode past the mansion."

We each took a horse and rode off, Dan leading the way. It was a long and difficult ride. So many hurdles, detours and strong currents. No wonder no one has found him on such a path. I saw the villa and we brought our horses to a stop and put them in a meadow where no one could see them. We gave them an apple to eat as a reward.

We made our way to the mansion, and as Poke said, it's not patrolled from the outside. Dan pressed something cold metallic into my hand. A pistol and a knife. I hid the gun in my holster and the knife in my belt pouch.

I don't care that we had to kill everyone in there to get to Agnus. We had to shut down the source to end this drug business. And the source was Agnus.

We entered the premises and crept to the large front door. As big as the door is, it was easy to break open.

In the foyer, two muscular men immediately ran toward us, but Dan and I each drew our knives and slit their throats in one motion. We didn't hesitate and went further into the villa, where we met another man. Dan stabbed the blade of his knife into his neck and life drained from him too.

A man attacked me from behind and choked me off, Dan didn't know how to act. No matter how he tried to attack the man behind me now, he would hurt me. I turned the knife over in my hand and just swung it back. I hit the man behind me as his grip on my neck loosened.

My knife was stuck in his stomach, I pulled it out with all my might and immediately slit his throat before he could start screaming. He gurgled and blood spurted out of his mouth.

I coughed and gasped, he had a strong grip on it.

"Son of a bitch," I cursed under my breath.

After my breathing settled, Dan helped me up and we walked up the stairs. At the top we arrived in front of a huge wooden door, it was powerful. Two men stood to the right and left of the door and unfortunately, they noticed us immediately.

"How did you guys get in here?" asked the man on the right.

"With a little help," Dan said, brandishing his bloodied knife in his hand.

He threw the knife and it hit the wall next to the man on the left. He sneered but stopped laughing when Dan aimed his gun at him and shot him in the head. Now we could make some noise, we were busted anyway, and Agnus knew we were here.

I walked a little towards the man on the right when suddenly another shot rang out and I felt a warm liquid splash on my face. The man in front of me sagged and Dan blew smoke from his gun.

I tried to open the door, but it was locked. "Wimp," I whispered to Dan, shooting the lock with my pistol.

The door opened and I saw an older man, but that black hair looked all too familiar. There sat the likeness of Alan.

He looked at us with wide eyes, for a brief moment I saw a flash of fear in them. But immediately I saw pure hatred in his eyes.

I wiped the blood from my mouth with my right hand and gave him a friendly smile like a businessman.

I had to look like a psycho.

"Hello Agnus."

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