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j o s h
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"If you're going to live in my house, you're going to live by my rules!"
"Fine, then I don't want to live in your house."
She looked hurt, and i instantly felt a pane of regret in my gut. She looked me straight in the eyes, although hers were filling with tears.
"Then leave."
I quickly pivoted on my toe and ran out the front door. I stuck in my headphones and started to run. I ran faster than I ever had. I had no idea where I was going.
I started to slow down until my run finally became a walk. I looked up to see a sign that read 'Monty City Park'. I saw that the front of the park was enclosed with a chain link fence.
I walked along the fence until I found an opening in the iron links. It was a bit hard to see, considering that it was 2 am. But everything was slightly lit by the full moon that sat high in the sky. Then my attention was drawn to the sound of crunching leaves.
"Who's there," I nervously asked, and the rustling leaves stopped immediately.
After what seemed to be an hour, the crushing began again, but this time it sounded like someone was running. Out of pure stupidity and curiosity, I ran after the sound. It got farther and farther away, so I pulled out my phone and turned on the flashlight. To my surprise there was a person running away, dressed in faded black skinny jeans and a large black hoodie, the hood over their head.
"Wait, I won't hurt you. Stop!" I yelled after them. "Please! I-I'm lost." I stuttered.
The figure began to slow down until he was at a stop. I carefully walked up to him.
"Why were you running?" I questioned. No answer. "Can you hear me?" The figure nodded his head. Then he turned and faced me. I saw a boy about my age, tears streaming down his face.
"I-I... I thought you were my father." He whimpered.
"I'm so terribly sorry if I scared you. But what's the matter? Why are you crying?"
"Like you care." He snickered back to me. "You don't know me. Heck, you don't even know my name. So why would you care?"
"I just-" I paused. He was right. I didn't know his name. But I still cared. When someone is crying, it means they are hurt, whether they are physically or emotionally hurt. "It just pains me to see other people hurting. I just want to help in any way that I can."
He looked up at me. Man, his eyes were beautiful. Beautiful deep brown circles that held millions of dark secrets. "I-I'm sorry for -uh- snapping at you. You were only trying to h-help. I'm T-Tyler."
"I'm Josh."
"Hi josh. Why are you out here so late?"
"Well I uh.. I kinda got kicked out of the house.. but why are you out here so late?" Tyler awkwardly chuckled and scratched his neck. He looked up at me.
"I needed a break."
"From what?"
"Reality. It gets really tough sometimes."
"I see. How long have you been out here?"
"Since Tuesday," he meekly replied. Today was Saturday-technically Sunday morning.
"How have you been gone for so long? What have you eaten? Where have you slept? Tyler this is insane, crazy!"
Tyler's gaze focused on me for a minute, and then it returned to the ground. "I uh, I don't eat very often anyways, butI just started to get a little hungry today. I sleep wherever I can find and my parents don't really give a crap about me. They probably think I've been upstairs writing and sleeping for the past week."
"Well haven't they noticed that you're not at dinner, or at school?"
"We don't eat dinner as a family. My parents are always working. I can't tell you the last time I've even seen them. They also don't care if I end up to be a bum on the side of the road. So no, they haven't noticed me in over 3 years." All I could think was how harsh and horrible that would be. Everything I have-family, friends, parents who actually care about my success-taken for granted. It really made me pity him.
"Tyler, you could live with me," after a long silence, we both sat down across from each other, leaning against trees. Tyler sat deep in thought.
"I thought she kicked you out?"
"Yeah, but she'd take me back in a heart beat. She's probably out looking for me right now." I pulled out my phone, and sure enough, several missed calls and texts from my mom and dad.
"Josh,"
"Yeah, Tyler?"
"Will you sleep out here with me tonight?"
"Yeah." We both settled down in beds of old, dead leaves and we lied there in a silence which felt like hours.
"Josh?"
"Yeah, Tyler?"
"What's your phone number?" He passed me his phone and I added my contact, and included my address incase he needed something.
Those were the last words he said to me for quite a while.
