The Forest Fic pt. II (COMPLETED)

Chapter Føur

The kiss is short, but just enough to somewhat fill the gaping hole between them. For a moment, the two fall silent and everything is still. The trees seem to press in all around them, as if to hear some unspoken secret. It's almost as if they're lonely, somehow.

Then suddenly, it's hard to breathe. The trees are closing in and the air is growing thin and time is running out. And they're falling slowly- Tyler and Josh are. They truly do have nothing, but for now they have each other and that's the only thing that matters, because all of a sudden, everything else is insignificant. All the words left unspoken and hearts destroyed- none of that matters now.

And suddenly, Tyler is collapsing into Josh's arms and they're lost, lost in each other. Their tears are damp against each other's skin but it's alright. They just hold each other as if it's the end of the world, and in a way, it is. Tyler sobs into Josh's chest as his shoulders shake uncontrollably, proving that he's still so much a very broken person.

They're both quite twisted up inside, and that twisting cannot be undone. However, there's that sudden little spark again, that little spark of life.

Flames coexist within Tyler. Not just in a metaphorical sense, but in a much more literal one as well. And it has always been that way, as it was always going to be. He had simply been born with that certain spark inside of him, and it was just tragic coincidence that in the end, that spark is what ignited the flames that consumed him.

Their lips meet for the second time, and Tyler discovers what it is like to actually fall inside someone's ghost.

They fall together and they fall as one.

It's a nice kind of falling, but not slow like it used to be. And the farther they fall, the more alive they feel. They can't help it.; they're in love and even though it's so fucking cliche, they're almost-but-not-quite literally falling into it.

"I missed you," Tyler says softly after quite some time had passed. "I missed you so much."

"Oh, Tyler, I missed you too," Josh responds, lacing his fingers through the other boy's. "I just- I think... I think everything is going to be okay now, but I really don't want to be wrong."

"I have no idea what will happen, or what might happen, or if we're just going to be like this forever." Tyler thinks for a moment, but still comes up with nothing.

"Do you think- Is there anything beyond this? A heaven? A hell? Or are we already here, wherever here is?"

Josh had been asking himself those questions for so many years now that he's lost count. He eventually just comes to accept the fact that he will most likely stay this way forever, stuck in this one place.

Tyler thinks out loud and asks no one in particular, "Where do we go from here?"

Now they just sit in silence, side-by-side with their backs against the tree. They're kind of lost- actually, they're very lost. It's almost as if they're running after something, something that they can't reach. But in reality, they're really not running at all because all they want is each other, and they finally have that now.

They could never allow everything they love to simply slip through their fingers as they sit helplessly and watch, as if through a screen. They've already done that once, but never again, because the screen is on their chests and the horror is inside them.

Though that is in the past, it's still so very vivid. After all, they're in the very same place where the silent voices still sing of Tyler's suicide. But all of that is said and done and they still have forever, or so it seems.

"I want to see my grave," Tyler says suddenly, in a surprisingly steady voice.

-

It's early evening and the sun is just beginning to set over the graveyard, its tombstones splaying mid-tone shadows across an unkempt ground. It's the kind of sunset that casts a golden peachy glow over everything and paints highlights in the oddest of places. It's lovely and melancholy and lonesome amongst the graves, dappled sunlight filtering through a group of massive oak trees.

Two faded silhouettes stand under a lone cork tree, side-by-side and hand-in-hand. A small church, the very same one Tyler's funeral was held at, stands next to the graveyard, which is enclosed within a wrought-iron gate.

"Four-five-oh-one-three Main Street," one of the silhouettes says under his breath.

"Well, here we are," the other replies.

They leave the shelter of the cork tree and walk into the evening light, scanning the words engraved on the headstones until they stumble across one in particular- one that is noticeably more recent than the others surrounding it. The dirt is fresh, and it hasn't yet had the chance to become overgrown with weeds and other unwanted plants.

As soon as he lays eyes on it, something changes inside Tyler. It's all so real; he's actually here; he's looking at his grave. His body, or what's left of it, lies six feet underground.

His fucking body.

Tyler thought he would be prepared, but as he reads the letters not-so intricately carved on his gravestone- his actual gravestone- it's as if a bolt of lightning strikes him and suddenly, this is all too close for comfort.

Why did I decide to come here? How did I even think this would be a good idea? And- and what is this... feeling?

Questions race through Tyler's mind until a voice snaps him out of his trance.

"Are you alright?" Josh breaks the deafening silence.

The other boy quickly glances away from where his eyes had been fixated and up to Josh. "Huh? What? Oh, I was just... I just... I- thought I could handle this, but I can't. I mean, what was I even expecting, really? This- is all so much, and now everything is... lavender... mahogany."

"I know, Tyler, I- uh, woah, you're so... vivid."

The boy in question shoots Josh a puzzled look.

"Well, um, it's like you're much more real all of a sudden. Like, more solid and less- I don't know. Maybe it's because... Wait, never mind."

Tyler looks to his outstretched hands in front of him and then to Josh, and notices that he does in fact appear more real- more solid, in a way. It's strange, but then again, when isn't it? Josh is far more transparent; the graves behind him that a living person would normally block are visible through him. The same goes for Tyler, but to a much lesser extent now. He almost looks real- almost.

What's funny is that Josh had always been that way, and Tyler is only just now realizing it because for some reason unbeknownst to him, he's more solid now- less faded. And it's odd, of course, but in a good way. He even feels stronger, closer to how he was before... before... everything.

As Tyler is lost in his thoughts once again, Josh notices something that he didn't see before.

There on Tyler's grave, just in front of the headstone, lies a small yellow rose. It hasn't been there long; someone must have put it there a day or so ago.

"What's this?" Josh asks as he picks up the flower to hand to the boy beside him.

"Oh, um... Someone must have put it there. I wonder who? Oh, it was probably my mom," Tyler says as a little wave of sadness washes over him.

"Well, uh, hey, doesn't yellow symbolize hope?"

"Yeah, and in some countries, it also means death."

~

I really hope you guys enjoyed this chapter bc I worked really hard on it! I have so much plot now, this is fun. Please vote and comment if you like, but especially comment bc I read every single one. Tysm, and ily frens <3