By Your Side (Twenty One Pilots)

The Cliché Haunted Mansion Chapter

Roadtrips had always fascinated Josh. He liked watching the blur of the trees. The unfamiliar landscapes and the slightly different accents from small town to small town. The guessing of the weater; whether it would be cold or hot or awkwardly inbetween. He loved every part of it. When his family would go on them he always felt closer to them at the end of it, and he hoped that was going to happen woth him and Tyler, too.

"Hey, Josh," Tyler spoke up. His eyes were slightly glossed over from staring at the road for so long. They were in the middle of no where. Not even a historical marker or truck stop could be seen. Only slightly hilly land for miles. The early morning sun painted pink in the sky.

"Want me to drive for a bit?"

"No, I'm fine on driving, but I'm craving some nachos right now."

"There's no where for miles, Ty. Where do you expect to get some nachos?"

"We got some cheese in the cooler right? And I think I remembered the tiny electric stove thing."

And so they stopped alongside the road. Josh spread out a blanket while Tyler dug through their bags for all the foods and supplies. Within fifteen minutes, the stove was plugged into the car, the cheese was starting to melt, and the beans were heating up. Josh tore open two small bags of chips and handed one to Tyler.

"Yes," Tyler said as he poured the cheese and beans into the small bag. As he took his first bite into the nachos he rolled his eyes back and sighed. He loved nachos.

When the food was all gone and they were packed up again, Josh turned to Tyler.

"As much as I love just driving around, I need some adventure. The land scape is pretty and all but, man, Ty. Something needs to happen."

"We just had nachos! That's pretty exciting!" Tyler exclaimed. "It's only the second day, Josh. We need to find a hotel first and then I'm sure in that town we can explore or something. It'll be great."

"Okay," Josh sighed, "But if nothing happens in the next four days, I'm gonna eat all cookies we packed and then you're gonna have to deal with me being sick on them."

Tyler laughed. "What kind of threat is that?"

It was two hours later when they pulled off the highway and into a town. It wasn't technically small, but by no means was it large. An old wooden sign welcomed the two boys in, advertising camping spots along a river. Josh looked at Tyler with excitement gleaming in his eyes.

"I packed a tent."

Tyler pulled into a parking spot near the entrance to the campgrounds and walked into the office with Josh, who was bouncing up and down, right on his heels. A older man stood behind the neatly organized desk and immediatly sprung into action upon Tyler asking if they could camp there over night. The man was eager to show them where they could leave their car and how to start a fire and the best direction for them to make their tent face. Apparently not many people camped out there any more. The charm of the old forest had worn off on the citizens so they just stopped going. That, and there was a really big old creepy house that was claimed to be haunted.

Josh fought for an hour with the tent until he had it sturdy enough. He made sure not to touch it too many times, though. Tyler was in charge of the fire, which he had going in under five minutes. He spent the rest of the time watching Josh struggle with the tent and taking pictures.

"So apparently there's a haunted house in these woods," Josh recalled.

"There's one in every forest, Josh. It's only to get tourists like us out here."

"But like," Josh started, "what if there is?"

"So?"

"So I say we find it?"

Tyler coughed on the water he was drinking a little bit and looked up at Josh.

"Do you want to dissappear for three years only for them to dig up our mangled remains?"

"I mean, it's an adventure."

Tyler sighed. "Oh my god, Josh. You know what, fine. We will. We will go find that haunted house. But if anything happens to me, you're paying."

Josh smiled and stood up, putting his backpack on, putting out the fire, and grabbing adventure flashlight.