the quiet ⭑ joshler

二

dedicated to pepe the frog

—

josh woke up at 8am, like he did most mornings. he wasn't used to sleeping in, he found sleep boring, so most days-he'd get up pretty early before anyone else in the house did.

pretty much all that was in josh's room at the moment was his bed and a desk and a wardrobe. they hadn't bothered unpacking yesterday, because they'd got there quite late.

josh went to have a shower and put on some new jeans and a shirt. it felt weird walking round a house he'd never been in before, but he just shrugged and got on with it. like he did with most things.

once he'd eaten breakfast he grabbed the new keys from the side table and was just about to go through the door when he heard his mom come down the stairs behind him.

"where'd you think you're going?" she asked, her hair still messy and still in her pyjamas.

josh sighed. "I was gonna have a look around-you know, see what's there."

"oh, josh." she shakes her head. "we've been here for one night and you already want to go out. I thought you'd help me and your dad unpack?"

josh rolls his eyes. "fine."

josh's mom sighs, frowning. "cmon, josh. it's not that bad. I know you're missing your friends-"

what friends?

"and it's gonna be hard getting used to all.." she looks around the house. "all this. but please..just try and help, just a little bit, instead of running away all the time."

so, josh spent most of that day helping his parents unpack all their belongings in to the new house. this house was smaller than the house in the city, josh realised.

the next morning josh got up when it was still dark so he could avoid being caught by his mom, again. his parents were always accusing him of being unsociable, which josh found unfair because when he did bother to socialise they were always moaning at him.

so he walked out the house with the new keys and started walking towards the forest opposite his house. there wasn't much point having a look at the actual town, all shopping areas were all the same, to josh.

josh walked across the path towards the forest, the cool air had hit him the minute he had got outside.

the forest was bigger than josh had expected it to be, in a small town like this, but he just carried on walking-getting deeper and deeper in to the forest.

it was only just dawn, and still quite dusty and dark, but josh was never really scared of the dark.

suddenly he heard a piercing scream, which made him jump-it sounded like it was coming from no more than a couple of blocks away.

still, it scared him, and he started walking swiftly to get out of the forest, maybe it was best to stay out of the forest when it was still dark.

as he emerged out of the forest, he realised he hadn't come out the same way he'd gone in. and decided he'd just have to try and find his road again. surely, it can't be that hard, he knew what his road name was, and josh wasn't even going to consider going back in to the forest again.

josh must've been walking round street after street for at least two hours, and he couldn't understand how he could be lost in a town so small.

he eventually gave up, and sat on the sidewalk for a few moments, contemplating whether to call his mom or not, it was only 8am, though.

"oi!" he heard a voice coming from behind him. josh jumped again, but turned round, just seeing a house at first but then slowly tilted his head up and noticed a girl with short blue hair looking at him from a window.

she had a blue mohican, kinda, except her hair wasn't spiking up really long like josh had see mohican's before. he'd never thought mohicans were a nice hair style before, but it really suited her.

"are you lost?" she asked, pulling her window up further so she could properly lean out of it. "ive seen you pass my house three times now."

"um, yeah." josh said hesitantly, he was not very good with "people", usually.

"wait two seconds." she says, pulling her window back down.

josh didn't know what was going on, apart from that this girl must be trying to trick him or just leave him there forever.

but, in the matter of two minutes, the front door opened and she appeared again, smiling at josh.

josh could get a better look at her now. she had tattoos scattered on her arms and heavy eye makeup on, but it didn't really look heavy on her.

"you're not from around here, are you?" she asks, leaning against her front gate.

"um, no." josh says.

"well, im ashley. and you are.."

"josh." says josh.

"great." ashley smiles. "did you just move here?"

"yeah." josh says. "um, could you help me find my road again?"

"sure." ashley shrugs, and josh tells her his road name.

"oh, that's just around the corner. if you go up this road and turn left and then turn right and then another two lefts and then a right and then you'll come to this alley way thing.."

josh just about forgot everything she said right after ashley had said it.

"got it?" asked ashley.

"d'you want me to come with you?" ashley could see how puzzled he looked.

"ur-yeah, if you don't mind."