Rough Patch

7

Tyler Joseph

"Hello can I make an appointment?" I ask as soon as the receptionist answers my call.

"Of course. Who is the appointment for?" The receptionist asks.

"That would be for me, Tyler Joseph."

"Okay. And do you have a particular doctor you'd like to see?"

"Yes. Dr. Donavan."

"Perfect. What will you be seeing him for?"

"I have some questions about a prescription that I'd like to be back on."

"Okay! Perfect. We can fit you in tomorrow at 6 pm. Does that work?"

"That would be perfect."

"Great! See you then!"

"Yup. Bye." I hung up and laid back on my bed. Today has definitely been a long day.

//
Jenna Joseph

Tyler really is trying. I can tell that he really is. I'm happy about it because he's finally coming back to reality. He realizes he hasn't been there for his daughter and he wants to be there for her now.

I go to the kitchen and look at our calendar. I want to do something as a family but it has to be something small and not so extravagant. I notice that next Friday Ellie doesn't have school. We could do something then and over the weekend but what?

Then a brilliant idea comes to mind. I go up to Tyler and see he's writing something in a notebook.

"Am I interrupting?" I ask in the door way.

"Nope. Just writing some stuff about what I want to say to Ellie's class tomorrow." He replied. I come in the room and sit on the bed.

"So, I was thinking, Ellie has no school next Friday. Why don't we go and visit your parents?!" I say trying to sound enthusiastic.

"Jenna--" Tyler starts.

"I know I know. You don't feel comfortable. But it's your parents! It's your brothers and sister. It's your daughters grandma and grandpa. It's your daughters aunt and uncles. They live so close and you never want to see them."

"I know that. I haven't seen them for so long so what are they going to say about me?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I've practically been in hiding for four years not wanting to speak to anyone. They think I'm crazy."

"You went through a tough loss in your life. They will understand. It's your family we are talking about. And if it makes you feel any better I was thinking that we could maybe go see my family the next day."

"I guess we could. It will be nice. I'm just nervous."

"And I completely understand but your trying so hard to turn your life back around and your doing such a great job so I thought we could continue this."

"I agree. Thank you Jenna."

"Of course. Now go ahead and get back to your writing."

Tyler Joseph

I woke up extra early the next day so I could get prepared to speak to Ellie's class. I took a quick shower then went to look through my closet for a perfect outfit to wear. If had to be casual. It had to be something I'd wear on stage. I decided on a pair of black skinny jeans, a black tee shirt, my black vans and my red socks to add a little color. As I was searching through my closet I found a box of stuff from my last show on stage. I pulled out a few of my masks and my red suit. I closed my eyes for a moment and decided I'd bring the whole box a long to speak to the class about it, to have a visual aid.

I finished earlier than I thought so I decided to go get Ellie up and take her out for breakfast before school.

"Ellie. El, wake up." I whisper as I sit on the edge of her bed and brush through her soft hair with my fingers. Ellie moves a little and stretches then she opens her eyes and smiles a little.

"Dad!" She smiled.

"Good morning! I know it's early but I thought we could get you dressed and go out for breakfast. How does that sound?" I ask.

"Great! Can you help me get dressed?"

"I can try! What are you thinking of wearing?"

"I want to wear your shirt?"

"My shirt?"

"This one!" Ellie said. She gets out of bed and opens up her closet door. She walks into the tiny closet and walks toward a back wall. She was leaning forward and obviously reaching because her back foot was lifting off the ground and her front foot was on her tippy toes.

"Do you need help?" I offer.

"No! I got it!" Ellie says happily. She steps out of the closet and was holding a bunch of hangers with shirts on them. She lays them out on her bed and I look down at them. They are every single piece of band tees I ever released. My band title on all of them. The latest one had myself and Josh with our red suits and masks on.

"Dad? Are you okay?" Ellie asks.

"Oh! Yeah! I'm great! You should pick one." I reply.

"No, daddy. You pick." Ellie insists. I smile at her and look down at the shirts. My favorite one was the most recent one. It gave me great memories as well as bad memories. It was the last piece of merch released before Josh passed.

"Well, I think this one." I say pointing to the shirt I was just thinking of.

"Okay!" Ellie begins to put on the shirt and she runs to her dresser and pulls out a pair of black jeans.

"I want to match with you." Ellie smiles. She puts on the jeans and goes to her closet she pulled out a pair of almost new black vans and red socks.

"Where'd you get all this stuff?" I ask.

"Mommy. She asked me if I wanted to be like you and I said 'of course!' So she bought me all this." Ellie explained.

"Wow. That was very nice of her."

"Yeah. I really like it. Can you do my hair?"

"That seems like something mommy should help you with." I laugh.