welcome to trench

bruise

"i promise"

i slouch into the camp, dry cramped up throat, my feet hurt and a hell of a ride with tyler, josh comes running to me when he sees me

"woah hey hey, are you okay??" something about him asking that makes me break a little "yeah..f-fine" i croak

he holds a hand on my lower back and one around my shoulder "are you sure about that?" he asks, genuinely sounding concerned

"what happend with your leg?" he asks, i almost forgot about that

"oh...tripped" i mumble i say tiredly

"well lucky for you, i used to do first aid in dema, come on" he leads me towards his tent

sitting me down on his bed he grabs a first aid kit and rolls up my pants "so...where you been off to"

i sigh laying back "oh you know, i just love hiking" i sarcastically say, he smiles shaking his head

"i know you went to see tyler" he says

i tense up a little, "w-what no i didn't" i nervously say

"hey its okay you can tell me, i already know where he is, always at that spot" he says placing his hand on my shoulder

i sigh "quite a cut you got going" he says, "i fell down some sort of rock" i say and giggle slightly

he shakes his head "not much of a hike girl, aren't you?" he laughs "god no" i agree

he laughs aswell, he spins around to grab another bandage carefully sticking them on "josh can i ask you something?" i nervously say

he nods "always yeah"

i fiddle with my hands, "how...how often does this happen?" i almost whisper, afraid to ask

he rolls down whats left of my pants and sighs
"he had better and worse weeks" he says and looks up to me "it used to be worse, he would ...kind of...attack people, well not tyler obviously but you know what i mean" he quickly mutters

i nod

"he wouldn't want me to say this but he's just...he is so sensitive" he runs a hand through his hair, something with nervous guys and something with their hair

"he shrugs everything off but really he cares about everything to much" josh mutters

i bite my lip "why didn't he tell me anything" i ask nervously

"he doesn't want people to know, he's embarrassed of it, isolates himself thinking that will work" he sighs now rubbing his forehead

in swing my legs over the bedside and look at him "how does he cope?"

"he doesn't"

i groan and cross my legs, its silent for a bit "how long have you known each other?" i ask

he thinks "since we were teens" he laughs "we grew up together"

he seems a little sad saying it out loud

"maybe you should talk to him" i say "i dont think i left a great impression today" i snicker

he furrows his eyebrows "why is that" he asks

i bit my lip for a second and decide to make up a lie "just...i don't know wasn't great" i wave it off and get up

"im gonna get some sleep, see you tomorrow?"

he shifts his gaze "yeah yeah okay" he nods

i exit his tent and make my way to our shared tent, i figure tyler isn't here yet since its only starting to get dark now

and when i enter the tent i prove myself right and its still empty, i sigh and wring myself between the blanket

with my brain full of thoughts i eventually fall asleep alone

-

the sound of people wakes me up and i blink a few times, its already light out

i yawn and look beside me, still an untouched bed, he didn't get back yesterday, i sigh rubbing my face

my neck is still sore and it hurts a little when i swallow, i force myself out of bed and leave my tent planning to find josh and tell him tyler didn't come back

but when i step out im met with both josh and tyler standing a little away from me,

tyler looks like he's profusely trying to explain something to josh while josh just looks worried

when they notice im up it gets quiet, i walk over slowly and tyler swiftly looks away and back

the closer i get the more they both look more upset, tyler actively avoiding eye contact

i stand with them, confused

"josh i.." he breaths and points at me "did i?..." he whispers "i did t-that didn't i" he mutters

it clicks, my neck, i bring my hand up to my neck, its probably a bit bruised

josh doesn't say anything, i also don't

"my hands did that!" he suddenly yelps looking up and storming off shortly after

josh walks up to me "might wanna grab a turtle neck before anyone notices" he mutters

"does it hurt much?" he says immediately after "what? oh, no no im good" i say with still with my hand up at my neck

"how's he?" josh shakes his head no "talk later" he mutters and also walks off, great, everything is going great

i slouch off to the dressing tent and fish myself out a turtleneck, after grabbing one i turn to the mirror

i scare myself a little, the 'bit of bruising' is actually quite a lot, deep purple traces of his hands around my neck are marked deep into my skin, i sigh and pull the turtleneck over my head

i exit the tent and decide to just keep to myself for a bit, i grab a notebook and a pen from the savings tent and hurdle up in the corner pf the camp just sketching some trees to try and distract myself

"it'll be fine" i mutter to myself and continue sketching