trees

19- give them blood, blood, gallons of the stuff

-one and a half month later-

"Would you like some more tea, bubba?" Ashley grinned, holding up the fake tea picture as if their were actually tea in it. Nonetheless, Josh nodded, smiling just the same as any other time he had the hour's worth of brother-sisters time. "Why of course I do, it tastes amazing, who made it?" Josh quizzed, looking at Ash and Abbs before Ash raised her hand. "Me!" She smiled, proud of her invisible tea and poured Josh's cup full of it. Josh sighed, happy with his surroundings. He adjusted the beanie he had be accustomed to wearing to hide the results of chemotherapy. His hair managed to grow back a little, not that he wasn't going to be forced to cut it off again. He only hoped that the radiation would stop soon. His parents always check on him, forcing him to lock his door just to get alone time to think or talk to Tyler. Speaking of, him and Tyler were spending a lot more time at the treehouse now. Josh loved the outdoors air and Tyler just loving the mortals company. Vampires have a sense for a lot of things, they can tell if your sick, they can tell what caused it, they can tell you your remaining life span and Tyler just couldn't help but study deeper an deeper into Josh's mind and body. Finding anything and everything he could to see how long he had left with Josh.

But Josh was right, he wasn't going to survive two years. Tyler couldn't tell him that, as little time Josh did have he just couldn't tell him that. Maybe Tyler could change him, turn him immortal an they live forever, together. That's just a big 'what if'. What if Tyler did? What if Josh dies anyways? What if Tyler left before Josh could even process his own death. Or, what if Tyler died right along with him? All of the possible what if's drilling away into his mind and making him feel more human then ever now, because when he was alive he always thought about everything.

"Josh?" His sister called out, waving a hand in front of his face. "Yeah?" Josh shot up in a rush, looking at his sister before settling down.

"When will your hair grow back? It used to be so fluffy, why did you shave it off?" Ashley asked, making the situation worse. Josh never lied to his sisters until now. Everyone deciding that it would be easier to tell them something else other than "your big brother is dying from cancer, go play now."

"Uh, like I said, I just wanted to try something new with it. Not that I like it or anything," Josh paused, "cause I definitely do not, but sometimes you have to do things for yourself in order to protect the ones around you." Josh, embarrassed with his flat attempt to cover up the obvious, excused himself from the tea party to head off to bed. He's been getting very tired lately, almost sleeping all day, even at school. It made Josh feel worse about it, he couldn't help not falling asleep. He could try his hardest to stay awake and learn but in the end he almost always ended up asleep. The teacher never woke him up, they know about his illness so they just let him sleep. That's exactly what made Josh feel so bad about it, he's began to cut himself down for it.

"Okay girls, gemme hugs because I'm going to bed, and so are you." Josh stood up, letting his arms out for his sisters to hug back. "Love you, girls." Josh said, taking in the moment like it was his last. He's been doing that a lot lately, too.

"We love you too, bubba." Josh smiled one last time before walking out o his sisters' room. He wasn't going to bed, yet, he was going to Tyler as he did every night.

"Mom," Josh mumbled. Him and his mom haven't been as close lately, Josh would often get pissed at her because, well, she's not the one having to shave all her hair off. "Yeah, what's wrong, baby?" His mother said, wiping a tear away from her face. She wasn't sobbing and Josh didn't care enough to ask what was wrong, so he just said what he needed to. "I'm going to see Tyler, uh, I might spend the night." Josh grabbed his jacket and keys, not giving his mom nearly enough time to refuse. It was better that way, to her.  So yes, everybody knows Josh has a friend named Tyler but nobody knows what he looks like, let alone where he lived.

"Hey, Joshua." A semi-girly voice said from behind Josh. Josh, after opening his care door, turn around to see the one other person in this town that knows about Tyler. "Hi, Gerard." He tried to keep it short, not really wanting to waste to much time talking to someone Tyler obviously didn't care for. Gerard had different plans, however.

"Where are you going so late at night? Don't you know it's dangerous?" The wind blew in Josh face, making him shiver and pull his scarf over his face. Gerard's figure seemed to tower over Josh ever so slightly, making the mortal uneasy and weak stomached. "A friend's house, mind your own business, Way." Josh spat, turning around to open it car door. He managed to open it but failed to get in before Gerard started talking again, directly behind the ill boy.

"You don't have to be so rude, and I have to ask you something." The black haired boy said, waiting a few seconds for Josh's reply. Josh just rolled his eyes and huffed, not really wanting to have any conversations with anyone other than Tyler. The tallest boy taking the silence as a time to continue speaking. "Do you know my friend?" Gerard's cold tone echoing in the other boy's ears. Josh shook it off, this kid must be fucking crazy, He thought to himself, off his rocker.

"What the actual fuck kind of question are you asking me? If you gave me a name maybe I could answer your question, I'm not a fuckin' vampire I can't read minds!" Josh threw his hands in the hair, finally, and with a lot of bottled up anger, snapping in the demon's face.

"How do you know vampires can read minds? Aren't they just a folktales?"

"Of course they are, it's called imagination dumbass, maybe you should use it to pretend like we're still talking." Josh finalized the little chat. Getting in his car and driving off