four walls (a twenty one pilots fanfiction)

five

We arrived shortly at the tour bus, where a few other crew members met up with us, including the muscly man I spoke to the other night. Josh grabs me by the hand and leads me towards him.
"Avery, this is Michael, he's our manager slash friend."
"Hi." He smiles, shaking my hand. "I believe we've already met?"
"Yeah, uh, at the concert. Thanks for believing me..." I scoff awkwardly.
"No problem." He chuckles.
"And this is Mark, he's the man behind the reelbearmedia brand you see on the back of all their shirts. He does most of the photography and footage for our shows, so he's pretty cool, I guess."
"Hello!" He grins slightly, waving, evidently very shy. I wave back, shyer, somehow.
"Finally this is Brad... He does the photography for us as well...he's alright(!)" He smirks sarcastically.
"Yo." He smiles, offering me a fist-bump. I somewhat enthusiastically comply.
"Hey, If Josh ever annoys you, or he won't give you something, just tickle him, because he is super ticklish and he'll always give in..." Brad whispers.
"Hey! Don't tell her that, it's very dangerous information as I have the habit of flailing my arms and legs uncontrollably whenever I'm being tickled." Josh says in his own defence.
"Don't worry, we'll pin him down." Michael includes as he walks past me. I laugh as I place my luggage in the storage containers built in on the side of the bus. Tyler and Jenna stand behind me, waiting for them to load their stuff.

Then all of a sudden, I felt this overwhelming urge of happiness. They are all so nice and so kind. These days, it is hard to find suchlike people, and it's nice to be around good company again. Whereas back in the safe-house it was just full of miserable, damaged women, desperately trying to make things work. I myself was subjected to this- trying so hard to be the person I clearly was not. And I was prone to this because of the sorrow that surrounded me. So, I think now, I just appreciate the positive shift of atmosphere. Though I cannot say they are all truly happy, their inclinations towards others are jaunty and joyous.

"Here, let me help you with that..." Tyler grabs my last suitcase that I was struggling to pick up and lifts it onto the bus.
"Thanks." I smile.
"No problem." He smiles back as he continues to put in his and Jenna's luggage.
"Hey, Ave!" Josh calls me from the window of the bus "Come in here and check this out!"
I nod and make my way into the bus. Upon entering I see Josh and Mark gawking at a small button on the side of the wall.
"Watch this..." Josh smirks, pressing down on the button. I watch as the bus wall extends outwards very slowly. It shifts a good few inches further, creating more space for the lounging area.
"Pretty cool, huh?" Mark beams.
"Haha, I guess so." I reply, rather dully. Clearly, Josh and Mark were more enthused by this than I was.
"C'mon. You've gotta admit, it's kinda cool." Josh says in his own defence.
"Ok...it is, I guess." I give in.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be enjoying our few inches of extended bus..." Josh hurls his body onto the couch into a laying position. Then, he grabs his hat and puts it over his face. I roll my eyes at his childish demeanour.
"He's probably gonna be napping there for a while." Tyler says from behind me. I chuckle lightly.
"But don't worry, he's a really cute napper, and when you watch him it just makes you want to be as comfortable as he is."
"It's true." Mark nods in agreement.
--

After we started driving and Mark showed me where everything was, we all finally settled down. Josh slept soundly on couch, whilst the rest of us sat around a bench-like table. Discussing the tour, of which I knew very little about.
"So what's the plans for the next few days?" I ask.
"Well, this evening we're driving to our first venue in West Virginia, not for a show but for a sorta practise performance...." Tyler begins. "You see, the audio team have just bought some new equipment, so we need to adjust and test it before we have an audience; hence the last minute rescheduling. That also means that we get to stay in a hotel tonight as we wont need to travel there tomorrow. But the other 3 nights will be spent sleeping on this bus, unfortunately..." Tyler grumbles.
"Ok, sounds good. I mean, how bad could it be?" I reply, hoping this would not be an instance of dramatic irony. Though, everyone looks at me skeptically with their eyes narrowed, almost scowling. Clearly, this was they're way of informing me how terrible sleeping on the bus was.
--

Beside talking and familiarising myself with everyone, I spent a lot of the time worrying. It was useless queries, as after all, it gets you no where in the end. But nonetheless, I couldn't help but mull over these very daunting thoughts. The one that I feared the most was of course the white van. Hypothetically speaking, if I was being stalked, it could only be linked to the murder of my parents, and ultimately Norman Gweth, the murderer. Looking back, Norman's trial seemed a very rushed, considering the depth of the case and the charges he was facing. At the time, in the very beginning, I honestly just wanted that man dead. Yes I was immensely sad, but underneath it there was some deeply rooted anger, seeking revenge.

However, when he died I thought I would be relieved, as a guilty man got what he deserved. But on the night of his final appraisal, I met with his eyes and all I saw was a terrified man. He was not the bloodthirsty, heartless hound my lawyers had dressed him up to be. And I hate myself for feeling sorry for him that night. Even now, though, my counterparts are telling me to be glad he's dead. I don't know. Maybe if he'd confessed to the murders, I'd be able to move on. But he never did. And that's always bothered me. Why?

"Ave, are you okay?" I jumped back into reality and saw Jenna sat beside me, concerned.
"You look upset, is something bothering you?"
"Oh, no I'm fine...just daydreaming. I tend to do that a lot." I say, forcing a smile.
"Just checking...We should arrive at the venue soon." She smiles warmly.
"Awesome." I nod.
--
And just as Jenna said, we arrived about 5 minutes later. The crew were very organised and immediately went off to go set up, leaving Jenna and I alone.
"So, this is normal for you then; being left to your own devices as the boys set up?" I ask as we walk backstage.
"Pretty much...I don't mind though. I like to have a wander around and see how people do their jobs. They put a lot of effort into these shows, y'know." She scoffs, clearly proud, and rightfully so.

Despite only meeting her today, I got along really well with Jenna. We seemed to click almost straight away. As stated previously, I spent my time in refuge surrounded by miserable women, pretending everything is normal if you ignore all the problems and feelings, simultaneously losing grip onto reality, mostly due to whatever kept them bound up in a safe house. So it was nice talking to someone so down to earth.

Mark poked his head round the corner as we paced along a corridor, smiling profusely.
"Jenna, you have to see this...Your husband is being weird again...." He ushers the both of us onto the stage, where I could hear the drums and piano playing badly.
"What are they doing?" Jenna whispers under her breath.
As we walk onto the stage, we're confronted by Josh and Tyler shoeless, attempting to play their instruments with their feet. And obviously, they sounded terrible. Still, they laughed and continued. I guess this is what they meant by 'band practise'.

"Oh, hey!" Tyler smirks at us, smashing his feet onto his piano. "Josh and I have been talking...and we've decided to change our band name. Now were called twenty one toes!" They giggle loudly.
"Really?" I scoff. "If there's only to of you, that's 20 toes in to(e)tal. Where's the extra toe to make 21?"
"I'm onto it!" Mark beams, throwing off his socks and shoes. Then he grips a tambourine with his toe and begins shaking his leg violently.
"I can be the extra toe!" He exclaims. Immediately, we all fall about laughing at their antics. I hadn't laughed this hard in so long, I feared I'd throw up. But despite the discomfort, it felt unbelievably good.

Normally, in moods as good as these, they'd soon plummet, as if my spirits were always in need of crashing. But I just couldn't stop laughing, and I didn't want to stop. I spent 10 years feeling the weight of the world underneath me, now I could spend the rest of my life feeling over the moon.
--

If only it were that easy.

- G W E T H