silent in the trees // joshler

three.

There was one perk of Tyler living on his own now; he was able to go hide in the woods as often as he wanted. All throughout his childhood when things started to be tough for him, he would take off into the miles of trees behind his home. Hours would pass as he laid against a tree trunk just thinking and thinking. The isolation was most likely not helpful for Tyler's mental state, but it was the only way he was relived from the stress at home. But the sad part was that no one ever came to look for him when he disappeared for these long periods of time. 

When Tyler grew up a bit he began to construct a tree house so that he didn't have to sit against the trees anymore. His brother, Zach, was the only other one who ever knew where Tyler ran off to in the woods although he never chased after him. Zach helped his brother to build the tree house since Tyler was a small framed and frail boy incapable of building it on his own. There was a ladder that Tyler could climb up into his new hiding spot. He scarcely decorated his space with a bean bag chair, lots of notebooks and pencils, a blanket, and later the tree house would contain a ukulele and a keyboard for him to play when he wrote music. 

Tyler doesn't go to his secret place in the forest very often anymore because it is hard to get out of the college atmosphere to drive the 15 minute drive back to his home. He tends only to do it when he is stuck on a music assignment since he wrote many of his high school songs in that tree house, or when he is at a dangerous cross roads in his emotions. Sadly, it is summer so the reason he is now walking through the trees is because of the latter. The poorly built tree house is about 10 years old now and doesn't have anything inside because Tyler took everything out when he started at college last fall. 

He follows the dirt path deeper and deeper into the woods until he comes to the clearing where his hideaway is located. In his backpack Tyler has brought a notebook and pencils so he can write for hours on end to cleanse his mind of all the negative thoughts. He puts his hand on the rungs of the ladder and pulls himself up into the small room. He sits on the floor across from the hole that leads down into the real world so that he is as far into his own world as he can possibly be. Tyler unzips his book bag, takes out the notebook and begins to write his worries away. 

The sun begins to set as Tyler writes and writes. Once there is no more sunlight, he is forced to stop writing. He purposely left his phone at home so that he wouldn't be bothered with the outside world. A feeling of guilt washes over him when he realizes he didn't tell Josh that he wouldn't answer for a while. It was nice to know that someone cares about him, even though they have never met before. Tyler has a feeling that they may meet soon though because they both realized they live in the same area of Ohio. 

Tyler doesn't notice how much he is shivering until hours later of him sitting in the dark. He becomes so engulfed in his thoughts that he blocks out everything else out around him. He pulls himself to his feet and travels down the rickety ladder. The moon was especially bright which Tyler was thankful for as he made the trek on the path back to his car that he parked a little down the road from his house. He didn't park in the drive way due to fear of running into a family member. If he were to have a confrontation with anyone other than his brother, then Tyler was afraid he would never return from the woods because of how unstable he is. Luckily, he avoided the anxious worries of seeing anyone as he unlocked the door to his car. When he turned his key in the ignition, Tyler looked at the clock on his dash which read 4:23 am. A yawn escapes his mouth when he suddenly realizes how exhausted he really is. He drives back to his apartment in silence. 

Tyler doesn't even bother to check his phone before sleep takes over. 

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A/N: I am seriously going to update more I promise. This was more of a filler chapter to lead up to events I have planned. BUT IT'S STILL IMPORTANT!

The song up there is one of the ones Tyler "wrote" while in the tree house.

stay alive |-/