tyler woke up in the hospital with bandages all over his head.
he had the worst nightmare the night before.
tyler was in a dark alley. he looked at the man sleeping against a tattoo building.
"Do it."
he heard the small voice in his head chant.
he pulled out the gun, which felt cold between his fingertips.
he slowly aimed for the man's head, shaking.
"i dont want this."
tyler said, tears streaming down his face."
"bam."
the voice said, as tyler pulled the trigger.
he immediately ran, as far away as he could until he couldn't breathe.
he was suffocated by his poisoning thoughts.
"tyler."
josh tapped tyler as he noticed he had been awake.
tyler moaned as he tried rubbing his head, but he felt restraint.
he pulled his arms up, but they were tied against the hospital bed.
he yanked his arms up a few times, but he was too weak.
"j-josh."
tyler croaked.
"sorry. you were doing weird things in your sleep...disturbing things."
tyler's eyes widened.
"what kind of things?"
tyler squinted his eyes, obviously blinded by the brightness of the room.
"y-you kept saying "i dont want this," and crying and you held your-"
josh paused a minute to process his words.
"you made a gun with your hands, aimed it up a-and you whispered something."
tyler was getting scared.
"what did i whisper?"
he lifted his head.
"bam."
tyler froze.
his breathing felt heavy and uneven.
"it was just a dream."
tyler controlled his breathing pattern.
"yeah. a messed up one."
josh added.
"im a messed up person."
tyler smirked.
"josh."
josh looked into tyler's dark eyes.
"you never know the psychopath sitting next to you."
tyler smiled.
then he just laughed.
a horrible laugh.
one laugh josh was scared of.
"is your head hurt?"
josh stood up and brushed pieces of bitten nails off of his pants. he chewed them all night, thinking about tyler.
"obviously."
tyler giggled.
"okay. im gonna go-"
josh was interrupted by three men barging into the room.
"uh, excuse me?"
josh looked the men up and down.
they were police.
"sir, please back up."
one of the men said in an intimidating voice as they slightly shoved josh back.
"tyler joseph?"
he asked steadily.
"yes?"
tyler smiled brightly.
which was odd.
the man took off tyler's restraints and slowly lifted him out of the bed.
"you have the right to remain silent. anything you say or do can and will be held against yo-"
"stop."
josh screamed.
"what the hell is going on?"
he raised a brow.
"mr. joseph has been charged with second degree murder- if you haven't heard the news."
the man laughed a little at josh's lack of knowledge.
lack of knowledge that he was sitting next to a murder.
"you'll never know the murderer sitting next to you. you think 'howd i get here sitting next to you?"
tyler quietly hummed as the police continued to take tyler off and continue their "due process of law."
"tyler. what did you do?"
josh's eyes burned with tears as he followed the men outside of the hospital.
"take it slow."
tyler grinned before he was shoved into the police car, hands cuffed together.
. .
"mr. joseph."
the man walked into the interrogating room, staring into tyler's soul.
tyler looked broken and tired.
bags beneath his eyes, that mocha brown was almost black.
the creases in his mouth seemed more visible.
his hair was messy.
and he had stitches across his head.
"you've been busy this year."
tyler looked up at the man.
"with what?"
tyler responded.
"thoughtless actions. tell me, why did you do it?"
the man sat in the chair across from tyler.
"do what?"
tyler scoffed.
"kill him?"
the man bluntly stated.
"kill who?"
tyler asked, obviously confused.
"tyler. our brains are sick, but that's NOT okay."
the man looked at tyler's eyes.
"there's no excuse for murdering someone."
he spat.
"i-im confused. you think i murdered someone? me?"
tyler laughed a little.
"the only thing i've tried killing is myself."
tyler smiled and leaned back in his chair.
"ah, i can see."
the man responded, looking at tyler's wrists, then stitched up head.
"well according to this evidence-"
the man set down a file.
"you're the murderer."
tyler opened the file, only to see gruesome photos.
a dead man, lying on the ground with his head punctured sloppily with a bullet.
he looked at the next photo, the man's cold, dead fingers.
tyler shivered in disgust at these photos.
he then looked at comparison to his thumbprints and the thumbprints on the weapon.
a gun.
"when was this?"
tyler scooted the pictures back and wiped his tears.
"i-i didnt do this."
he sobbed.
"yes you did."
the man slammed his hands against the table.
"wake up, kid. you're a murderer."
he picked up his jacket and the files and left the room.
. .
"hello, tyler."
the lawyer smiled.
"now, your thumbprints are on this weapon, but we have video that you were in the hospital around the time of the murdering."
the woman said with uncertainty in her voice.
"so. obviously you couldn't have done it."
tyler looked up at her.
"in my dreams i did."
he whispered.
"Excuse me?"
she lifted her brows.
"i had a nightmare that- that this man was killed. by me. b told me to do it."
he tried not to cry.
"hm. interesting."
she clicked her pen a few times.
"don't worry kid. i'll get you out of here."
she reassured him then quickly left the room.
. .
tyler had a visitor.
it couldn't have been his family.
his mom was either wasted at home, or at a bar. his dad walked out a while ago. his brother moved and never looked back.
he was left alone with his alcoholic mother.
"tyler."
josh snapped him out of his thoughts.
tyler looked up at josh across the glass.
tyler fumbled around with the telephone cord as josh told him how he was gonna get out.
"tyler are you listening?"
josh sighed.
"yeah. im just lost that's all."
"lost?"
josh was confused.
"lost in my train of thought. the train is slowly going nowhere, just like me. im surrounded by these horrible thoughts and suffocating voices. i'm living a nightmare."
tyler responded with tears rolling down his cheeks.
josh just stared at tyler, noticing how horrible he had looked.
"tyler."
tyler looked up, with no hope or happiness in his dark eyes.
"i love you."
josh put his hand on the glass.
"i love you, too."
tyler cried as he put his hand on the opposite side of the glass, aligned with josh's.
"times up."
the men gestured tyler.
tyler cried as he was being dragged away by time.
"dont let b. win!"
josh screams as tyler was dragged away.
. .
