Kiss It Better? [Joshler]

Seventeen Years

"Josh," Tyler's raspy voice came from over the phone. "Are you able to come pick me up?"

"Yeah. Why? Where are you?"

"I'll explain later. I'm at my house, in the bathroom. Call me when you get here, I'll come meet you outside. Oh, and don't come in the front door. Park away from the house and come in the back door."

"How come? Is something wrong?" Josh asked concernedly. By now there were banging sounds coming from over the line, and the occasional squeak of fear from Tyler.

"I'll explain once you get here. Just please hurry," Tyler said, and hung up.

Josh ran to his room to get a hoodie, then rushed back downstairs to grab his car keys and started the short drive to his distressed friend's house. About three minutes before he was there, he pulled over and parked the car, then began to run the rest of the way. He quickly arrived, and made sure to enter through the back door. Once inside, he could hear shouting and banging noises coming from upstairs. It was then that Josh realized he had been supposed to call just before he got there.

As quietly as possible, he left again and pulled his phone out of his back pocket. He rapidly dialled Tyler's number and held the phone to his ear. It was answered after the first ring by the boy's timid voice saying, "Josh? You here?"

"Yeah. I'm in the backyard," he replied.

"Alright. I'm in the second storey bathroom, but he's still in front of the door. I figured he'd be gone by now. I'll have to come out through the window."

"What? The window? What if you fall or something?" Josh asked worriedly, not bothering to ask exactly what was going on.

"Well, I was hoping you might be able to catch me if I did. Even so, I'll probably be fine."

"Alright. Be careful," he said, looking up and seeing that Tyler was already opening he window.

"Kay. I'm hanging up now." With that, the line went blank, so Josh turned his phone off and put it back in his pocket.

He stood there, unsure of what to do as one, then two legs popped out of the window. After a moment, the legs were followed by Tyler's petrified face peeking out over the edge of the house. Josh opened his mouth to shout encouragement up to his friend, but before he could get anything out, Tyler held a finger over his mouth, indicating Josh shouldn't say anything. He nodded to show he had understood the message, and Tyler continued awkwardly trying to climb out the window.

He soon stood on the small ledge of slanted roof separating the outside of the first floor from the second. He looked down nervously, and seemed to be about to start climbing down, when there was another loud bang from inside the house, and Tyler looked back in fear. From where he was standing below, Josh could see another set of feet begin to appear through the window, followed by the torso of Tyler's father.

Tyler took a step back as his father's face popped out of the window, then a few more when he noticed the evil grin spreading across his face at the sight of his son.

The man continued trying to climb out of the relatively small window as Tyler slowly took more and more careful steps away from him, occasionally looking down to see if there were any good escape routes. By the time he had reached the end of the small stretch of roof, Tyler's father had escaped the bathroom's window and was advancing towards him, hands outstretched.

"Josh!" Tyler called down, looking down to him fearfully.

Josh moved his head to stare up at him and shouted back, "yeah?"

"Catch me!"

"What?!"

"Catch me!" he yelled again, feet now on the very edge of the roof, and his father mere feet away from him.