‹ Prequel: Toxic
Confession
Chapter 8
-Dans POV-
we arrived at the funeral home, Phil, his mum and I, I had never seen him looking so child like, gripping his mothers hand like it was the only thing keeping him alive, he shuffled slowly across the gravel car park, each step he took was shaky, it looked as though his legs where ready to give way at any given moment.
He wasn't my Phil his normally thick shint bouncy hair was lank and messy, his cheeks had sunken inwards from a lack of nutrition, his bloodshit eyes where surrounded by dark rings, he was a broken mess.
We walked over to a small desk where a woman was sitting, tears began to fall from Phils eyes as his mother explained the reason behind our visit, we where instructed to sit and wait for a senior member of staff to address us. A tall dark haired man came through a heavy velvet curtain on the fair side of the reception area,
"Phil Lester?"
He looked up shocked nad gripped his mothers hand tighter, we stood up and followed him through to the chapel of rest, the three of us stood by a metallic table covered by a thin white sheet, the man began to spea in a deep but comforting voice
"I assume you know why you're here? Now I need to ask if the casualty had any distinguishing features?"
Phil nodded and responded in a thick emotionless voice
"He had a erm tattoo on the back of her neck, it said Skye, that's our daughter Skye, shes 8 months old, shes beautiful you would love her..."
He began to trail off before bursting in to loud sobs once again, I put my arm around him as his mother took over
"She had a faint scar above her top lip more to the right she had a rose tattoo on her wrist with Philip written below it I think thats about it"
The tall man carried on speaking whilst taking notes,
"Okay, so I am obligated to tell you that this will not be a pleasent expierience and she may not look how you remembered her to be, but if you wish to proceed with your family here we can"
Phil nodded
"Can I just have a second please?"
"Of course we can do this when ever you're ready"
After a few moments of listening to Phils deep breaths the silence was broken
"Okay I'm ready"
The man nodded and walked towards the table as if in slow motion he took the top two corners of the sheet and slowly peeled them back, I felt my eyes sting as tears threatened to fall my head was spinning and my heart racing, my stomach in knots he moved the sheet back and revealed Lucys gaunt face, a heavy silence fell over the room for what felt like a lifetime only for it to be shattered by a loud anguished yelp from Phil,
"It's her! it's her!"
He fell to the floor sobbing loudly and punching the hard tiles he fell on to his side and began to wreath around violently before vomiting on to the floor.
His mother pulled him up pulling him in to her arms and holding him close to her in a tight loving grip cleaners bustled in to clean up the mess.
Tears flowed from his eyes and blood from his knuckles.
We found our selves ina small office and the same man fom the chaple of rest was behind a desk shuffling through papers
"I know this is hard fro you Mr. Lester but we need you to look at these photos is this your car?"
there where a few pictures of Phils car mangled at a road side, he glanced over them and pushed them away fresh tears forming in his eyes he nodded slowly.
The meeting was wrapped up and we left the car ride home silent and emotional, Phils mum drove and came back in to the flat with us, Chris and PJ had been looking after Skye, they looked over at Phil with sympathetic eyes, Phil disappeared in to the bathroom as his mum bustled around the kitchen.
I sat in the small arm chair next to the sofa they both looked over at me expectantly,
"Look Phils a mess, I'm going to need some help for a while at least until Phil can pull him self back on his feet, so will you guys stay here for a while, please?"
I looked over at them both with pleading eyes, they both looked back sympathetically and nodded silently PJ broke the silence
"Dan, you know you've got us we arent going any where"
I smiled and stood up, turning on my heels nad walking towards Phils room, I knocked quietly only to gain no response, I pushed the door open to see Phil sleeping soundly on his bed his face gaunt and his eyes still puffy, I walked over to the bed and laid next to him, pulling his cold fragile body in to a gentle embrace and holding him seliently for a few seconds. pressure built up behind my eyes as tears began to dance gracefully down my cheeks,
"It's okay Phil everything will be fine, we've got each other and we've got chris and PJ too, and what about Skye she needs her Daddy, she won't remember Lucy but we can help her and we can make sure she knows that she was beautiful and loved you so dearly Phil we can do that, we can get PJ to make her a book or write her a song Phil please dont just fade away I need you"
I buried my face in the pillow and let a few tears fall.
we arrived at the funeral home, Phil, his mum and I, I had never seen him looking so child like, gripping his mothers hand like it was the only thing keeping him alive, he shuffled slowly across the gravel car park, each step he took was shaky, it looked as though his legs where ready to give way at any given moment.
He wasn't my Phil his normally thick shint bouncy hair was lank and messy, his cheeks had sunken inwards from a lack of nutrition, his bloodshit eyes where surrounded by dark rings, he was a broken mess.
We walked over to a small desk where a woman was sitting, tears began to fall from Phils eyes as his mother explained the reason behind our visit, we where instructed to sit and wait for a senior member of staff to address us. A tall dark haired man came through a heavy velvet curtain on the fair side of the reception area,
"Phil Lester?"
He looked up shocked nad gripped his mothers hand tighter, we stood up and followed him through to the chapel of rest, the three of us stood by a metallic table covered by a thin white sheet, the man began to spea in a deep but comforting voice
"I assume you know why you're here? Now I need to ask if the casualty had any distinguishing features?"
Phil nodded and responded in a thick emotionless voice
"He had a erm tattoo on the back of her neck, it said Skye, that's our daughter Skye, shes 8 months old, shes beautiful you would love her..."
He began to trail off before bursting in to loud sobs once again, I put my arm around him as his mother took over
"She had a faint scar above her top lip more to the right she had a rose tattoo on her wrist with Philip written below it I think thats about it"
The tall man carried on speaking whilst taking notes,
"Okay, so I am obligated to tell you that this will not be a pleasent expierience and she may not look how you remembered her to be, but if you wish to proceed with your family here we can"
Phil nodded
"Can I just have a second please?"
"Of course we can do this when ever you're ready"
After a few moments of listening to Phils deep breaths the silence was broken
"Okay I'm ready"
The man nodded and walked towards the table as if in slow motion he took the top two corners of the sheet and slowly peeled them back, I felt my eyes sting as tears threatened to fall my head was spinning and my heart racing, my stomach in knots he moved the sheet back and revealed Lucys gaunt face, a heavy silence fell over the room for what felt like a lifetime only for it to be shattered by a loud anguished yelp from Phil,
"It's her! it's her!"
He fell to the floor sobbing loudly and punching the hard tiles he fell on to his side and began to wreath around violently before vomiting on to the floor.
His mother pulled him up pulling him in to her arms and holding him close to her in a tight loving grip cleaners bustled in to clean up the mess.
Tears flowed from his eyes and blood from his knuckles.
We found our selves ina small office and the same man fom the chaple of rest was behind a desk shuffling through papers
"I know this is hard fro you Mr. Lester but we need you to look at these photos is this your car?"
there where a few pictures of Phils car mangled at a road side, he glanced over them and pushed them away fresh tears forming in his eyes he nodded slowly.
The meeting was wrapped up and we left the car ride home silent and emotional, Phils mum drove and came back in to the flat with us, Chris and PJ had been looking after Skye, they looked over at Phil with sympathetic eyes, Phil disappeared in to the bathroom as his mum bustled around the kitchen.
I sat in the small arm chair next to the sofa they both looked over at me expectantly,
"Look Phils a mess, I'm going to need some help for a while at least until Phil can pull him self back on his feet, so will you guys stay here for a while, please?"
I looked over at them both with pleading eyes, they both looked back sympathetically and nodded silently PJ broke the silence
"Dan, you know you've got us we arent going any where"
I smiled and stood up, turning on my heels nad walking towards Phils room, I knocked quietly only to gain no response, I pushed the door open to see Phil sleeping soundly on his bed his face gaunt and his eyes still puffy, I walked over to the bed and laid next to him, pulling his cold fragile body in to a gentle embrace and holding him seliently for a few seconds. pressure built up behind my eyes as tears began to dance gracefully down my cheeks,
"It's okay Phil everything will be fine, we've got each other and we've got chris and PJ too, and what about Skye she needs her Daddy, she won't remember Lucy but we can help her and we can make sure she knows that she was beautiful and loved you so dearly Phil we can do that, we can get PJ to make her a book or write her a song Phil please dont just fade away I need you"
I buried my face in the pillow and let a few tears fall.