SIDE B| JOSHLER

BEMÖTANDEN

acquaintances

And so, this was where he stood.

This god forsaken hell-hole, where the tall boy (author's note: yes i imagine him taller) perceived so strongly all the way to his shattering bones that he did not fit in with.. with those freaks! He didn't bother to rest at thought to have some morals, to not judge from the looks of it. Hell to that. Not to think about him morphing into a figure just like those freak shows was unavoidable. Josh despised it. Even though the teen had not even seen anything except a dark cave intending to be a 'hallway', he knew strongly that this was not a 'friendly home for teens with trouble'.

He wasn't trouble, he was different. His mother told him many times that it wasn't anything to be insecure about, and so he wasn't. Still he was being forced to leave his family for an unknown period of time, to "work on his mental capacity". Josh wasn't incompetent, he knew it meant experimenting on him like a useless rat.

Pondering of the past of his shattering into pieces no soul would bother picking up was abruptly interrupted by bony fingers snapping in front of his shiny eyes staring into the ground soullessly.

He quickly straightened his back and forced his soul and body to merge again, to be able to grasp the now. The close figure standing about a feet away from him flashed a menacing grin. Uh oh.

"Joshua William Dun." someone called out, Josh immediately bringing all of his attention to someone outside the family who was aware of his full name.

"There he is!" she chuckled alarmingly friendly. "He's back to reality, how brilliant. I was almost about to tell you the details of your stay when you weren't even paying attention, darling. You almost missed it." She straightened her back, lifting her chin up, growing taller than the younger man in front of her.

Before she spat a sentence Josh would remember for years, she took his almost stubbly chin in her strong hand and pulled him towards her witch-like face.

"Ignore me again, Joshie, and I will make sure to destroy every emotion you have left in this scrawny body of yours." The tension of ten seconds between the two were thick, then the woman spread her lips to put the sharp teeth on display. The splitting sound of heels clicking against the concrete were heard before a loud shout were heard from the woman before she strutted away.

"Irene. Do not forget me, Joshie, or you'll pay the consequences."

And then, the dangerous feeling of alone in the dark was familiar once again, when the potato sack were mercilessly thrown over his head and he was pushed on his back, signalling him that it was time to move forward. So he did, clumsily. The lack of hearing and sight caused the poor boy to fall forward after meeting a threshold with his stumbling feet, nothing catching him or to muffle the harsh fall that was caused upon him. A grunt mixed with a loud and desperate cry of help resembling a pray finally being catched by the predator was to be heard all over the big hall that Josh soon realized was surrounding his body when the potato sack fell off his head. The loud buzz of mouths trying to talk over each other became whispers of "look over there.", and "what the fuck?" when the silence fell over. His hands being untied by the big guard made it easier to push his lifeless body up to his unstable flower-fragile legs to confront the numerous crowd of alike teenagers having their (what it looked like to be) lunch-break.

Anxiety through the roof.

Breathe.

Breathe?

BREATHE.

He helps, even though he wasn't the front face of right now, he was still a person.

Josh was not going to let anxiety in one personality be the first impression he has on the same-age freaks.

Although he felt the fear starting to burn in his nostrils, tears brimming his eyes, he was stronger than that. At least his facade could be, if his fate was to be decided as the lone wolf. Him and his friend that the world hasn't met yet. He could for all it means be an imaginary friend. But he wasn't, Josh knew that.

Josh knew that Spooky Jim was real, or else... he wouldn't be here.

After the silence became unbearable, Josh refusing to make eye contact with any poor soul in the big, grey, lifeless dining room, one voice shouted to their friends at a table in the edge of the premice. Everyone's head snapping to bring their attention otherwhere, Josh mentally thanked them for it.

"SEE? I TOLD YOU GUYS A NEW KID WOULD COME TODAY, I COULD SENSE IT! YOU OWE ME A LOLLIPOP!" It was a girl, with extremely colorful clothing. She had... pigtails? Josh took a second time to observe everyone who seemed to be carrying on with their lunch, as if nothing interesting actually happened. They all seemed to have been getting to keep their personalities, and as much as Josh loathed this goddamned place, he appreciated that. Maybe it was the effect of a riot, or the agreements to compensate for the experiments he knew were bound to happen sooner or later. Either way he wouldn't dare to question it, he just silently gave thanks to it. He needed it more than anything.

Looking around he eventually came to the table of the group of friends where the pigtail-girl sat.

Although everyone seemed normal, one boy stood out.

Josh couldn't put a finger on it precisely, but the eye-contact he eventually made with the mocha-mixed-with-chestnut-haired boy was not in anyway uncomfortable, nor was it embarrassing.

It was exhilarating. Like you could not tear your eyes apart. You looked into Medusa, as soon as that glance of an eye, you're stone. His eyes were tempting, almost taunting in a way. Josh couldn't as much as he wanted tear his dark chocolate orbs away from the other one's. That was until his arms was quickly yanked, and he got dragged to an office.

This was bound to be danger.