~Before~
Tyler wakes up in a cold sweat, fearing the repercussions of his outburst at dinner last night. He doesn't even remember when he went to sleep, the last thing he can recall is storming off to his room.
Tyler checks his phone for a text from Josh, but tries to convince himself he's checking for the time. Nothing from Josh but it is 6am, and Josh didn't even wake up this early before the accident. Now, he sleeps till noon, despite the doctors saying sleeping a lot could end him up in a coma. Head injuries are crazy.
Tyler looks out his window and sees the sun just barely peaking over the hills.
"If I leave now I'll be back before breakfast, then I can go to Josh's." Tyler whispers to himself.
"What if mom doesn't let me go?" He whispers back, like he's having a conversation with himself.
"I'll just tell her he left something here."
"Or I could tell her I'm going to someone else's house."
"She won't believe that, I don't have any other friends."
"God! I hate myself. Why am I like this?" He says, looking up.
Despite is dispute with himself, he goes into the woods where he was with Josh yesterday.
~
When he finally gets to Their Spot™, he doesn't know what to do.
"Why does everything feel so different?" He asks himself aloud.
"What's wrong with this place?" He asks himself, getting anxious.
"Maybe it's cause Josh isn't here." He'd only been here with Josh, even though they've been here thousands of times. Suddenly, it becomes too much, and Tyler sprints back home.
~
When Tyler gets home, it's now only 7am, and his family doesn't get up till 8. He then decides to start on breakfast, hoping it'll redeem him from last night.
A few hours pass, as does breakfast. Which, by the way, was barely enough for Tyler's mom to somewhat forgive him for last night. Really though, he doesn't care, as long as he can see Josh, he doesn't care about anything else.
~
Tyler decides to go and surprise Josh at his house, but first he stops and gets Josh some candy and whatnot. Just a little something to say "I love you".
When he gets there, he suddenly remembers the date, June 18th. Good thing his subconscious came in clutch with the candy.
Tyler knocks on the front door and Josh's mother opens the door.
"Oh hello Tyler, Josh isn't up yet but you're welcome to come in and wait for him if you want to."
"Oh okay thank you. Is it fine if I go into his room? I'll try not to wake him."
"Sure go right ahead, just be kind if he wakes up, he can be a little disoriented sometimes."
"Okay will do. Thank you." Tyler walks down the hall into Josh's room, tiptoeing around- oh my god! They didn't! They did! Josh's parents actually got him a drum set for his birthday! That's so sick! The red and black drums are placed perfectly in the middle of the room with a giant bow on them.
"Maybe these'll help him." Tyler whispers to himself. Tyler sits on Josh's bed and rubs his back soothingly. It's around noon, so Josh should be waking up sometime soon.
An hour later, and Josh still isn't awake. Tyler doesn't know how long Josh has been sleeping, but he shouldn't take any chances of Josh slipping into a coma from over sleeping.
"Hey Josh," Tyler says rubbing Josh's back.
"Josh get up it's your birthday," he says causing the boy to turn in his bed. Josh turns from his stomach to his back and flicks open his eyes. Josh's face goes pale white and can barely muster words.
"W-who are you?"
