Tyler, a sheepish young boy in his late teenage years, walked alone in the forest, paranoia leading him to pointlessly check over his shoulder every couple minutes.
The cold late-summer wind blew through the silk-like hair that he hadn't brushed in at least a week.
The boy held his hands in his pocket, tightly holding on to his phone, feeling the vibrations caused by the loud music he had been playing through his earphones. He felt as if somehow the deep sound of the kickdrum, accompanied by the singer's soft, comforting voice, had been taking him away to a different world.
Listening to music made it all fade away. All his pains, troubles, and miseries. He felt as if these songs had been answers to his cries for help. It brought him a sense of relief, knowing that there was someone out there that cared. Someone who had felt the same way that he had.
Tyler felt his phone vibrate as the song faded out for a second or two. He checked his messages.
"Hey, Tyler, are you okay? I'm starting to get a little worried. You've been out there for a while."
A text from his best friend and roommate, Coral. He hated worrying her. He quickly responded.
"Of course I'm okay. I didn't get eaten by a cougar or anything. I didn't realize how long I've been gone, I'm sorry, I'll be back in a few."
He put his phone back into his pocket, immediately begginning the trek back to his college campus.
About twenty one minutes had passed, and he had barely made his way out of the forest.
"Hey, are you lost? You don't usually take this long."
Yet another text.
"No, I'm fine. I mean, I was out for three hours, I obviously went pretty deep into the woods."
He had only been walking for a few short minutes, maybe three, when he realized; he had forgot his wallet at home. Although, he had promised both Coral and himself to cut back on the caffienated drinks.
Tyler had a slight fear of stairs, after a traumatic incident as a child. Although, he hated elevators with a deeper passion. After minutes of pondering, he decided to man up and take the stairs.
He was glad to be back in what had become his home. Don't get me wrong, he loved his walks, although it had been getting dark out, and that had been the last night they had off before the first real day of class. He had also been incredibly sleep deprived; he needed some rest.
Coral had been "busy" scrolling through tumblr, as she waited for her friend to get home. She quickly hid the fact that she'd been using Tyler's computer by clearing the search history and throwing it on to his bed where she found it.
"Coral! I'm home!" Tyler called out.
"What took you so long?" She responded with a giggle.
"What? Oh, uh... Nothing. Just took a wrong turn."
Coral had a look of disbelief on her face. There's no WAY he could be telling the truth. His jeans were dirty and slightly torn, the once white shirt he was wearing was pretty much fucked, dirty and covered in tears large enough that you could see his stomach, back, and ribcage through them. He was trembling, and when he took his jacket off, there were what looked like dozens of tiny scratches on his back.
"...Alright... How was your walk?" She asked, curious.
Something inside of Tyler was telling him to lie. He didn't want to; he could never pull himself together to. Especially not to Coral, the one he loved the most of all.
"It was okay, I've been on better."
Honestly, at this point, It'd be of his best interest to lie. He knows how Coral can get when she's worried. He was mostly glad that she didn't look under his pillow, oh god, if she did... It'd be a total nightmare.
He sat down in bed, quickly confiscating the note that had once been laying between his sheet and his pillow. He opened his computer, glad that Coral hadn't asked what the note was.
"H-Hey, were you using Tumblr on my computer?" Tyler laughed.
"Oh shit, I, uh.. I forgot to close the tab... i'm sorry.." Coral responded.
"Dude, It's fine. I'm just glad that I cleared my search history before I left."
"Alright, well, you look pretty tired. You should get some sleep. We've got a lot of work to do tomorrow."
Coral's voice was beautiful, just hearing her speak made Tyler feel safer.
"Alright, fine, whatever..." Tyler yawned, putting his computer off to the side. He got up and changed in to his pyjamas.
"Night" Tyler said, turning the light off. it had been driving him crazy.
"Goodnight." Coral responded, beginning her nightly routine as well.
45 minutes passed, and those 45 minutes felt like hours to Tyler. He tossed and turned, trying as hard as he possibly could to sleep. The tiny cuts on his back and knees stung like hellfire. His arms began to ache. A migraine refused to leave his head. All of that on top of a large amout of stress and lack of sleep recently is what kept him awake.
"Why the hell can't I sleep?" he thought out loud, without thinking.
"Well obviously you dumbass, you fell out of a fucking building and in to a thorn bush." Tyler said, answering his own stupid question.
Hours and hours passed, until finally, he fell asleep for a breif second. He treasured that moment. Being tired beyond words but not being able to sleep is one of the most terrible feelings out there.
It'd been about 20 minutes, and he finally fully managed to sleep
Tyler awoke to the sound of Coral leaving.
"FUCK...." He forgot that today was their first proper day.
He jumped out of bed and quickly did his hair, before changing into some proper clothes and grabbing his bag, leaving the dorm and heading to class.
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wow that was stupid. forgive me, for i am horribly sleep deprived. the next chapter will be better (and longer), i promise. i really didnt want this to go there; i didnt want to get to the point where it just became stupid vent and conversations with myself. but it did. oh well. as i said, the next chapter is gonna be so much better, i promise. fudslkjg hope you "enjoyed" it anyways. whatever. im gonna go read some other fics now, seeing as how writing seems to be going horribly. night myfrens. -Tyler
