:. darkness .:

:. dArKnEsS .:. Part 1 .:

"What are you afraid of?", Tyler asks, his voice slow and soft. His words trail off his lips like light breeze of wind.

"The darkness", Josh responds. The pain in his voice overtaking his words.

"Hm", Tyler says. He relaxes his legs across the grass. His fingers brushing through the blades of grass. 

They look at the stars. It's quiet - almost too quiet.

Tyler realizes what he just made Josh do.

I guess it's good to face your fears, but Tyler knows better.

"Do you wanna go inside?", Josh's voice trembling. "It's a little cold", he lies. 

Tyler doesn't hesitate getting up. He stands up before he offers his hand to Josh. His body lay on the dry grass, his eyes locked on the dark sky.

Josh's fingers grasp the wrist of Tyler's. The tips brushing against the loose rubber band around Tyler's wrist. 

As they walk away, they stand close. Close enough that with just a slight move of their hands, their fingers could be intertwined. 

~

Tyler opens the windowed door before Josh has the chance to even try. Once you've known someone for 2 years, it's not hard to know what comforts them. What helps them in a situation like this.

Josh walks through the door, his head still down.

"Um", Josh struggles with his words.

Tyler steps in, "do you want to watch a movie?". 

It's almost like he can read Josh's mind.

Josh's head simply nods up and down, his brown hair falling in his eyes; his waves tickling his eyelids.

"Frozen?", Tyler asks, desperate to make Josh smile.

It worked.

Josh's pale lips move across his face, forming a toothless smile.

Tyler grabs a real movie, Josh's favourite movie.

They sit on the brown leather couch. Although Josh has the entire couch, he chooses to sit almost right next to Tyler.

~

His eyes spread open; the darkness fills his mind. He takes out his phone; 9:27. 

He sighs, the breath leaving his body.

For him, breathing meant letting go of the old energy. It means allowing for new things to happen; new opportunities.

He walks out of the door, his legs barely dragging behind him.

"Well hello there, sleepy head", Tyler starts as he walks over to the kitchen. The strong smell of coffee filled the room.

"I made some coffee, light: just how you like it"

~

For Tyler, waking up can be hard; Sometimes, he doesn't want  to wake up. He tries to hide it. He tries to hide the fact that life can be hard for him.

Sometimes, things are easier if he pretends he's okay.

He masks his problem by helping other people with their problems; he helps others instead of helping himself. 

He does things that he's uncomfortable with so that others are comfortable.

The rubber band on his wrist does multiple things. It's a symbol of strength, but it's also a coping mechanism. He uses it to cope with things that he's not capable of talking about.

The rubber band will likely stay there until he's dead.

He's not sure when that will be, though.