infidel (joshler)

Chapter 18

Tyler and Melanie walked through the streets of the city. It was strange. Everyone was frozen, but time was still moving. Street lights were still going through their cycles even though the cars hadn't moved in several days. Tyler wondered if these people were still aware of what was happening and were just helpless. He asked Melanie.

"Well, one second you were screaming at me from your cell, and then you were in my face telling me I had superpowers, so no, I don't think they're aware of anything." She laughed slightly, returning her gaze to the leaves blowing around her feet, the wind caused by the storm behind them. It was moving rapidly, but not quite fast enough for them to be that worried about.

Tyler tried to think of the places Josh could've gone. Not his house, that was too obvious and Josh was smarter than that. The coffee shop. Tyler took off at a brisk pace, Melanie following behind. He approached the corner that the coffee shop was on, memories flooding through him by every business. As he got closer, his step faltered. The windows were blown open, and glass was all of the sidewalk and on the inside of the shop. The only people inside were those who had been working when the curse hit.

Where else could Josh be? Tyler thought to himself. He'd go somewhere where he'd be safest from the storm and there would be things that he could protect himself with. The school, a few blocks down. Tyler gestured for Melanie to follow him and then took off at a run, dodging between cars, always aware of the growing storm behind them.

It was hard, running through these streets again. There were a lot of bad memories here. memories spread all across the city, filtering into his mind like cigarette smoke. It wasn't fun having to remember all of the difficult parts of his life. A few minutes away was the bridge he almost jumped off of. A few streets to the right was Josh's house. Where he'd killed him.

Tyler shook his head violently, trying to remove the memories, and running even faster. He just had to get to Josh. Melanie could sense his tension, he knew it, and he tried to calm himself down so that she wouldn't get nervous. The last thing he needed was this very dangerous girl getting freaked out and running off.

The school loomed up in front of them, the white building strange against the dark clouds. It was almost funny. The dark clouds were how he had felt walking into that building every day; dark, horrible thoughts clouding his mind. These clouds happened to be a lot more dangerous.

He pushed through the front doors. The office staff was still in the building, sitting at their desks and focused on their computers. Everyone else had presumably gone home. He walked through the school, wondering where Josh would've hidden.

The storm hit just as the door closed. The building shook violently, the lights flickering. The winds howled outside, almost deafening.

When he reached the middle of the school, he saw his old science classroom. He'd been in the period after Josh. He'd hated how it had no windows. No windows. That was smart.

He knocked on the door. He heard shuffling inside.

"Josh, it's Tyler and Melanie. It's me. Not him, I promise." More shuffling. Josh was probably debating whether or not he should let him in.

"My eyes aren't red anymore. He's actually gone, okay? But I think he's on his way to kill us, so I suggest you make a decision about opening this door." He gave Melanie a look. Josh really had to decide here, because there was a demon powered storm about to hit and that wasn't really the way he wanted to die.

Finally the lock clicked, and Josh came out slowly, with a sharp stick in his hands. Tyler turned around and gave him a smile. Josh suddenly rushed forward, pinning Tyler against the wall by his throat. Josh squinted at him as he struggled slightly to breath, his throat having a hard time getting air through it with Josh's forearm pressed tightly against it.

"Are you really Tyler? Because if not I am not going to hesitate to run you through with this." He shook the stick in his hand as he spoke. Tyler gripped Josh's arm.

"It's me." Josh kept his arm pressed there for a few more seconds, before releasing him and gingerly stepping away. He stared for a few seconds, unsure, before rushing forward and connecting their lips together. Melanie let out a scoff and turned away, as the two boys smiled against each other's lips.

"I love you, Tyler," Josh whispered. Tyler ran a hand through Josh's hair.

"I love you too, Josh," he said, before pulling him in for another quick kiss. Melanie turned around, hands on her hips and a pissed off look on her face.

"Can you two stop sucking each other's faces off and get something done? We need weapons, we need protection we need-"

"Melanie, we have superpowers." She gave him a look and rolled her eyes, crossing her arms.

"Yes, I know that, but we need to protect Josh, you idiot. He isn't actually real but you seem to be able to change that, so we have to protect him" She looked confused at her own words. It would be confusing for Tyler as well if he hadn't created Josh from the power of his own mind.

The building shook violently once again. Tyler heard windows breaking across the school. The same thick black cloud that they had been running from spread through the hallways, causing them to run like their lives depended on it.

They rushed through the school, Josh falling once and Tyler picking him up and launching him down the hallway. Josh landed on his feet and managed to keep running, although the look of surprise on his face showed that he was amazed.

The front door of the school loomed in front of them. If they could just make it to the door, they'd have more space to fight this thing, and there'd be no corners, no ceilings, no dead ends. No real way for them to be trapped. No way for this thing to kill them if they could just keep running.

Always running.

They made it to the doors, flinging them open as the black cloud spread out through the door behind them. They kept running, running across the street to the field. There had once been a church there, but years back some kids burnt it down.

Tyler had seen it. He'd been out walking, trying to clear his head because it was three in the morning and he couldn't sleep. He was probably fourteen. There had been several boys standing and laughing around the church. Tyler could tell from their voices that they were drunk. He could see little spurts of flame lighting up some of their faces as they lit their cigarettes. One of them lit a match. Tyler watched as he threw it into the dry grass surrounding the base of the church. He watched him laugh as the building burst into the flames and his friends pulled him along as they ran with terrified eyes.

And yet Tyler didn't do anything. He should've called 911, done something, even chased those guys. But he didn't. Instead, he sat on the cold cement at three in the morning and watched that church burn. And then he went home, and he slept better than he had in years.

The clouds surrounded them, quicker than clouds should. Tyler gripped Josh's hand and pulled him in close to him. He gave his hand a quick squeeze. The clouds seemed to get thicker and darker at one point, almost in the shape of a human body, but too tall, too long, not exactly human like...

"Ah, Tyler. Good to see you again."

a/n: so this story is almost over and i am sad. also i apparently like terrible cliff hangers because i've ended almost every chapter with one yiKES