I'm Trying To Sleep

11

Tyler and Josh's newfound deal had both its good and bad results.

Tyler's chest was even more of a hotspot for his tight, coiled anxiety that became more and more tangled as the week went on. When Monday came and marked their end beginning, Tyler hadn't wanted to wake up, prompting his care provider gently shaking him awake. At first, he hadn't realized it was their last Monday together here at Tree Pine. It hadn't really struck him until he walked into his bathroom and finally looked at himself.

His reflection had dark shadows under their eyes, and longer hair more shaggy and tousled than before admittance. His wrists lacked angry red marks which had become a normal sight to him, and instead consisted of scabs and scars. This was not the man he had once been, *but now the man he had become.

Thanks to Josh .

"No," Tyler told himself with a scowl. "This is not just because of Josh," he hissed, shaking his head. He itched at one of the scabs on his arms, biting on his lip. "We did this."

We?

Tyler paused, taking a few moments to himself. Blurryface had been a huge factor in this entire stay at Tree Pine. He had influenced him to nearly die roughly three times, to make his mark and to end up in Hall 3. Yet none of that was good. None of it was what Josh would want.

With that uncomfortable realization, Tyler took a deep breath and ran cold water over his face in hopes of waking him up and drowning his dark thoughts. The water seeped into his eyes and into his mouth, causing him to sputter and blink away the liquid. He gripped the sides of the sink, running his hands over his face to rid the water off of his skin and he looked back up at his reflection.

Yet instead of it being him, Blurryface peered back.

Blurryface wasn't some dark demon with squiggly lines and chaotic eyes. Instead, red eyes peered back and black paint covered his eyes and his throat. There were more red lines along his arms, and they were deep and dangerous. While this hadn't happened in a while, Tyler had seen Blurryface manipulating his vision in the past before. It was nothing new, yet it still made Tyler jumped back on the soles of his feet, eyes wide and terrified.

He'd thought Blurryface had lost some of his grip upon him. He'd counted on that for getting out and finding Josh once he was discharged. And now proof against all his wishes and wants stood in front of him, taunting him.

Blurryface stood against everything good in Tyler's life; Josh, freedom and music. He was the blade he'd gotten from art class in the form of pencil sharpener after Mama could no longer sing him to sleep with her soft voice. He was the pills he'd counted with his tongue when he could no longer sleep.

Blurryface was the darkness, and while Tyler was not the light, he was not as dark as his demons were.

The hotspot of his chest began to constrict, making it difficult to breathe. Tyler furrowed his eyebrows, hands clenching by his sides as rage and fury began to pump into his system. Blurryface had destroyed his life. Blurryface had taken Tyler's fragile world and crushed it, ignoring the glass that splintered in his hand.

And Tyler was determined to take it back.

With a guttural cry, he launched his fist into the mirror, sending it into shards flying everywhere. He ignored the sharp pain in his hands as he drew back, breathing heavily as he looked down at his hand. Blood was dripping off of his broken skin, bright on the white tile of the bathroom floor. He looked back up to where his reflection once was, and saw that some jagged pieces of glass remained.

His door opened quickly as people frantically called for him, yet he paid them no mind. Instead, Tyler leaned forward, squinting at the glass that remained. He saw his eyes, and his face.