Humannequin (twenty one pilots-RUBY)

12.The A Team

April 2016

May was vastly approaching. Josh hadn't showed up to school or replied to Tyler's messages in four days and he was getting worried sick. Never had more than 24 hours passed without them talking since they met. That's it, he thought. He finally decided to leave me. Well, that's okay; I always knew he would, eventually.

Tyler felt like he was dying. His first instinct was to talk to Josh. That's what he always did when he felt bad. But then he remembered that Josh was ignoring him. He was scared to ask Jenna or Hermione about the boy, because he didn't want them to confirm that everything was great, except that Josh had gotten sick of him, and the three of them were sitting together laughing about it. About him.

[what did you expect?

I have to say he did manage to put up with you for an astonishing amount of time, I'm impressed]

After a week passed, Tyler was beginning to wonder if Josh wasn't in fact ignoring him and if something had happened to him.

[yeah, something did happen, he got sick of you
he never loved you]

So he ran to Josh's house and rang the doorbell again and again but in vain. All the shutters were shut and there was a complete silence that seemed almost creepy. Tyler got an agitating premonition. Something was very wrong. He finally decided to let himself in, his growing fear outweighing his good manners. 

He couldn't believe his eyes. The entire house was empty. The walls had been painted a dull white colour and all the furniture was gone. 

"NO!" he screamed. It couldn't be. They couldn't have just moved away like that. Not without telling anyone about it. Not without telling him. This couldn't be happening. He ran up the stairs like crazy. Josh had to be in his room. He would be there and explain everything.

But he wasn't.
His room was empty too.

But not quite. After staring at the empty walls for a while, he noticed something on the floor. It was a small piece of paper. He felt his heart racing. Could there be an explanation there? Did he even want an explanation? After a few minutes, he picked it up and turned it over.

"I was an angel"

__________________________________________________________

No.

"NO!" he screamed, suddenly losing all sense of control."Please stop, mum! Please... Just tell me what happened, I can handle it."

His mother had never looked more afraid. She was in complete horror.

He had no idea how she could act so surprised. How could have everyone agreed to play this sick prank on him? Why?

"WELL? TELL ME!" he desperately cried again, barely managing to hold his tears back. No, this couldn't be happening.

"Honey, I honestly have no idea what you're talking about...Are you feeling well? Maybe we should call someone..." she trailed off with such concern on her face that Tyler couldn't look at her.

No. People don't just disappear.

[He left you]

How can no one but Tyler be aware of Josh's existence? Everyone knew him; they saw him every day for a year. This must all be a sick joke.

[He abandoned your pathetic ass]

But Tyler had gone everywhere. There was no record of Josh Dun at school, the principal and all of his teachers had never heard of him or seen him anywhere around.

Jenna and Hermione acted like Tyler was crazy too. They claimed Tyler was always alone at the bar and it was always the three of them at their spot, or just Jenna and Tyler.

Pastor Ted had advised him to see a doctor and pray.

Mrs. Morrison suggested he got more sleep because he "didn't look okay, dear".

Madison had looked at him with such innocence and genuine confusion it hurt.

They all had the same look on their face. They were all thinking the same thing."You have lost it. You always had been weird and we worried about you but now it's crystal clear that you have gone completely nuts."

[They're afraid of you, you know.
They're afraid you might hurt them. Or yourself. They'll send you away.
They'll lock you up and you'll rot next to a bunch of real lunatics.]

But what if he were a real lunatic? What if everyone were right and there never had been any Josh Dun in their lives? What if it had all been in Tyler's head?

Everything was falling apart. He couldn't handle this madness.

No. Josh was real. At least he had been. Tyler was sure of it. Something happened though. Something terrible. And he needed to figure out what. But until then, he had to convince everyone that he was sane.

But how could he hold on? His best friend was gone.

[Gone forever .He left
He left you Alone
For the rest of your life]

"Ty, say something, please..."

'Ty...'

[Are you still thinking about him? Pathetic fool]

"Oh I'm fine, mum. I think you're right, I must be really tired. I'll go get some sleep okay?" He tried to sound as convincing and calm as possible. He couldn't blow this."I'm sure I'll be fine once I get enough rest, don't worry" he managed to fake a small smile.

She looked a bit relieved but still worried.

"Fine but call me right away, if you need anything, okay?"

[Yeah, like a shrink]

"Sure," Tyler called running up the stairs.

He locked himself in his room and was finally able to break down and sob in peace. He was all alone in this. Again .No one he trusted could help him figure out what to do because they simply had no idea about Josh's existence. Or rather, his former existence. The entire situation was so fucked up and Tyler found himself questioning his sanity once again. How could have the memories of dozens of people been erased in one night? Why was Tyler the only one that still remembered? How could someone and his entire family disappear like that?

And

...why would Josh leave him?

["Why?" "WHY?"
Are you honestly kidding me right now? Look at you crying on the floor. Look at this pathetic mess.
This poor excuse of a human. LOOK AT YOURSELF, TYLER JOSEPH. You are nothing.
Who would want to put up with such a disgusting piece of shit?]

Josh never seemed to mind though. So what changed? And how did he do all this? Did he go through all this trouble to magically erase so many memories and disappear just to get away from Tyler?

That thought hurt more than anything ever had before. Tyler's head was ready to explode. He wanted to throw up but he couldn't move. He just kept crying and crying for hours. He was lucky no one was home because he screamed too. He screamed 'why?' over and over until his throat was burning, begging him to stop. He kicked his bed with such force he thought he might have broken his toes and right after the bed followed every other piece of furniture he owned. Then he fell to the floor again, repeatedly slapping and pinching himself until he couldn't move his arms any longer. 

Because this is just a terrible, terrible dream, right? I'll be waking up soon enough.

He didn't even know what he was doing most of the time, barely holding on to consciousness. But he didn't stop crying for one second until he finally fell asleep.