josh's light footsteps echoed through out the quiet neighborhood. his heavy breathing adding to the noise as he ran down the streets towards the grungy motel he was staying in. the boy ran out of breath as he slowly pulled out his room key and opened the door to his room. he looked around the dark area and let out a sigh, his life truly was pathetic. josh closed the door and fell onto his bed face first, inhaling the stale smell of the probably clean bedsheets.
the night was coming to an end and josh had nothing to show for it. his job was simple; break into houses and steal something so he could pawn it off later, and he had messed that up. if only he was quieter he wouldn't have met that annoying but cute boy. he would've been able to take that expensive looking tv he saw in the living room. he wondered whether he should go back for it, it's not like he had anything better to do. but he knew he'd probably run into that kid again. what was his name, terrance? trevor? it didn't matter, he would be careful enough not to see him again.
josh wriggled out of his clothes, remaining on his stomach before closing his eyes in hopes of passing out due to exhaustion. although he was incredibly tired, his thoughts were very awake and consumed by the annoying boy. everything about him seemed so strange. especially when he almost seemed eager to be killed. the whole encounter made josh slightly concerned for the boy. and with that concern came nervousness and a feeling of suffocation.
so josh stood up with a groan and stumbled into the grimy bathroom and stepped into the shower. he turned it on cold, and just stood there, allowing the freezing water to envelope his body. josh used to enjoy hot showers until he realized they did nothing to calm him down and the steam only made it harder for him to breath. also, most motels he stayed in didn't even have hot water so he just had to get used to being cold.
he stood under the water for a while, only thinking about the cold, until he saw a cockroach scramble across the dirty tile wall. he shivered in disgust at the sight and quickly shut the water off before sliding his clothes back on and leaving the bathroom as quickly as possible.
the cold boy hesitantly stepped into the room, wary of any other bugs, and walked towards his duffel bag of possessions. inside, all he had were useless trinkets he'd sell later, ratty clothes, and an almost empty leather wallet. he zipped the bag closed so bugs couldn't get inside and stepped away, checking the walls and ceiling of the room nervously. that one roach really did a number on him and now he was paranoid.
he paced around his room for a while, reluctant to get into bed where many more bugs could be, until he was hit with an overwhelming feeling of fatigue. so josh disregarded his fear of roaches and laid down on top of the blankets and turned off one of the two lamps he had on before falling asleep quickly.
•
"i can't afford that shit and you know it, so stop trying to sell it to me every time we talk," josh whispered angrily to the boy across from him.
"whatever," jordan huffed in response before taking a bite of his pancakes.
"so, how's mom," josh asked nervously, tapping his fingers on the table.
"she's fine, dad is good too," jordan smirked, knowing that bringing up their father would upset josh.
"what's dad been up to lately, anyway," the older brother asked calmly, sipping his diet coke. "is he still cheating on mom?"
"hey, mom cheats on him, too. he's not the only one at fault," jordan snapped in defense.
"bullshit," josh groaned setting his fork down loudly. "she doesn't do shit and you know it."
"whatever," jordan rolled his eyes, taking a bite of his pancakes. "why do we still meet up every week? all you do is bitch about how much everything sucks."
"we meet up so i can get free breakfast," josh grinned in satisfaction, finishing his meal.
"wow," jordan smiled. "i feel so loved." josh laughed softly and stood up.
"see ya next week," josh said, grabbing his coat and walking away. jordan waved and josh left the restaurant, heading back to his motel. as he walked, he looked around at the other people, trying to see if maybe he could snatch a purse nonchalantly. but it was early so most people were either at school or at work and the crowds weren't big enough for stealing.
a loud honk from a blue mini van broke josh from his thoughts about stealing and he looked up at the vehicle in alarm. he examined the driver and the bored passenger, recognizing that it was the annoying boy from the night before. josh didn't want to be noticed, so he pulled his hood on and ran across the street to get to the sidewalk.
tyler's eyes grew wide as he realized that the person his mom almost hit was the same person that almost killed him last night. his mom rolled her eyes as she continued driving and muttered something about how stupid people were. but tyler knew that person wasn't stupid. he was far worse than stupid. he couldn't even rob a person's house without waking someone up.
so tyler sat in the car as his mother pulled into their driveway and began unloading the groceries. after putting the food away, the boy walked around the house, checking all the doors and windows and making sure they were locked. he wasn't in the mood to see josh. he just wanted to be alone.
josh had the same idea as tyler, except it wasn't. josh didn't want to see the other boy whose name he still didn't remember. but he did want to go back to the house and take the tv. and this time, he was going to do it right. probably.
~
maybe the title of this is slow because thats what the updates are¿
lmao i crack myself up i really need to get the updating situation under control haha whoops anyways,
ily
-abbi
