Drown Me (Joshler)

Five

     “Tyler. Wanna go to a party?”
“A party?”
“Yeah.” Josh said, looking up from his phone for the first time in over an hour. “An old friend of mine wants me to go to this party. It could be fun.” Josh wasn't wrong there.
“Sure. When is it?” I asked.
“We're supposed to be there around 9 tonight, but we can go later if you want.” I just nodded. I had never been invited to a party before. Sure, it could be fun. We only had 5 hours until it started.

     Josh rang the doorbell of a big house in the nicest neighborhood in our town. A guy with a large forehead answered the door.
“Josh! Glad to see you could make it!” The guy pulled Josh into a hug.
“Tyler, this is Brendon. Brendon, this is Tyler.” Josh introduced us to each other.
“Nice to meet you, Brendon.” I said, and Brendon grabbed me and hugged me so hard that I struggled to breathe. When we let go, he moved out of the way so we could walk in. I looked around the room for a moment, and when I turned around, Brendon was gone.
“Let's go get some drinks, okay?” Josh asked. I nodded

     I wasn't really big on drinking, especially not after my parents became alcoholics. Josh said he wasn't really a fan of beer, either. We found some Red Bull in the fridge and drank that instead. Josh made me go dance with him, even though I tried begging him not to make me. He ignored me.
“Just one song, Tyler! It's going to be fun!” His eyes sparkled, and I got lost in them. It was hard to say no to him. So, I had to dance. We made our way through Brendon’s house to the basement, where there were speakers and an open space for dancing. I saw Brendon trying to hook up with a few guys and girls, getting rejected by all of them. All of a sudden, there were screams coming from upstairs.

     “Brendon! You cheating asshole! You're dead!” I heard a female screaming upstairs. Then, there was a girl coming down the stairs, screaming about Brendon. She had a gun. Everyone was screaming and trying to get out.
“Shit, my ex.” I heard Brendon say. Josh was trying to pull me towards a door, and after a moment of shock, I went with him through the door. We were in a closet. Josh tried finding a light.
“No, don't turn the light on.” I whispered. He sat down against one of the walls. Josh's was hyperventilating.
“Don't worry, we'll be okay.” Bang. Bang. Two gunshots. More screams. Josh was crying. He was having a panic attack. I wrapped him in my arms and attempted to comfort him.
“Can you see me a song?” He managed to whisper after a while.
“Of course.” I sang him a different song this time.

“I don't know
Where I am supposed go
So I might just take my pride
And go
Some people they know
Know everything but I know
That they don't know
My heart
‘Cause I
Oh yeah I believe in love
And I hope I can show you what I mean
And I don't believe love’s for me
So won't you come around and
Prove me wrong.”

     I sang softly. Josh slowly stopped shaking. He just laid his head on my shoulder and closed his eyes. There were a few more gunshots after I started singing, but they stopped eventually. I don't know when the police showed up. Once I thought it was safe to get out of the closet, I was pulling Josh out with me. He was shaking again, to the point where it was hard for him to walk. We walked back to his house, hand in hand. When we got back, Josh was shaking so bad he couldn't walk up the stairs. I carried him up to his room, put him in bed, and tucked him in. I turned to go downstairs, and he grabbed my arm.
“Please don't leave me alone… Stay?” Josh whispered.
“Okay.” I laid down next to him. I held his hand and traced circles with my thumb. We fell asleep like that.