"Jesus Christ, what the—"
Josh was more than shocked. He couldn't exactly fathom what he was seeing—it didn't make sense in his head. The sight in front of him made him retch in disgust and shiver in fear.
Tyler, on the other hand, stood there with an expression even more shocked than Josh's. He felt nervous, sad, angry, and scared. All these emotions were once history to him, but there he was, feeling. After he died, he was left emotionless, and only felt two things in all those years of being dead—resentment and anger. That's why he did everything he did, but he wasn't the only one.
"Tyler—Tyler, are you okay?" Josh asked the phantom, a hint of worry in his voice. Josh never thought he'd see Tyler this shocked; he was expecting his usual expressionless face as a reaction.
Tyler shook his head and muttered, "No...no, I'm not." Josh's eyes grew wide at this. Is he...is he feeling something?, Josh thought. "That's—That's my sister, Josh. Josh, that's my sister," Tyler whispered, almost helpless. Josh could only mutter back a small "Oh".
There was practically no body under the floorboards, all there was was separate limbs placed in a specific way so that the floorboards wouldn't lift and create a bump—even though they still did, but...There lay Tyler's late sister's head, arms, and legs. No torso, no chest; just that.
The remains seemed to have been preserved well, but the way this place looked so deserted, Josh doubted anyone has been coming in to keep it from decaying completely. So, Josh had only one theory—which was pretty unreasonable, but whatever—this had to be the work of something near or similar to Tyler. He's not certain, though, but it had to be that. I mean, how does a dead body from a few decades ago or something stay preserved so well? It just didn't make sense, so this was by far the most logical reason he had.
"Tyler...I think we should go. I'm sorry for bringing you in here," Josh muttered softly. Tyler only nodded, still staring at the mutilated body of his sister. There was something in his eyes that Josh had seen in Patrick's after he had heard that his mother had died. And in Gerard Way's, at the funeral of his late grandmother. It was a mix anger and sadness. "Y-Yeah, let's—let's go," Tyler said, staring at the ground one last time, before walking hastily out of the room.
Josh frowned deeply watching him go. He wanted to help him—even comfort him, somehow. But how could he do that with someone who is dead? Josh sighed, and shook the thought out of his head. He stared at the remains for another long while, when an idea came to his head. This was gong to be great for finding out who exactly were the culprits involving the Joseph family murder.
He took out his phone and began taking pictures of the remains in every angle possible. It must look weird, but he's seen enough detective/crime shows and reports to know what to do. There'd have to be an autopsy for further investigation, but he wasn't going to get the police involved in this. Josh wanted to find out who the murderers were by himself, with Tyler's help...And maybe a bit of help from his friends, he just doesn't want the police involved. This was his case, and he was going to solve it. Josh put up the floorboards over the remains again when he was done, leaving it like it was when they first came here. He took a few pictures of the room, and left the room without a last glance. He took more pictures of the house, and searched it out a bit more, as well. And soon, he was done with his work, and left the house to join Tyler outside. He supposed he was outside, at least...
Tyler wasn't inside the house anymore, he was already waiting outside for Josh to come out of that place. His hands were stuffed inside his pockets as he stared out into the beyond. His mind was completely jumbled up. Too many things were happening at once, and they were making him queasy. Which made him think even more, because he's never felt queasy in all his years as a phantom. He was left with resentment and anger. But now, he was feelings all sorts of things—things that were human.
"Tyler?" Josh's voice broke his train of thought, and he turned his head to look at the blue-haired boy. "Were you listening to me?" Josh asked, raising an eyebrow at the phantom. Tyler just shook his head in reply. Josh sighed, and repeated what he had said. "I know this must have been hard for you, and I'm sorry that I led you here and you had to see that. But, uh, hey, look at the bright side, this could help us find out who your murderers were," he smiled up at Tyler. Tyler nodded at his words. "Alright then...Well, that's good. I hope we can solve this ourselves. I want to know even more now, after seeing that."
"I thought so—me too. We'll get to the bottom of this, I promise."
And with that, Josh took Tyler's hand without a second thought, and practically dragged him away from the abandoned cabin—which Josh had already taken a picture of when Tyler wasn't looking—since Tyler was still too stunned with Josh's actions. And maybe because he actually felt butterflies in his stomach, when he had already long forgotten what the hell that felt like. And, oh shit, he was falling for human.
a/n: hi yes hello!! i am so sorry for not updating this sooner, the whole draft for this chapter was save on my laptop and i honestly never pay attention to it or use it unless i have school work (which i do but it was christmas break lol) and today i finally decided to use my laptop and here we are. i am so sorry i left you guys hanging in the last chapter but here we are!! sorry for any typos or mistakes! love you guys!!
