S L O W T O W N

Domestic Pain

The hallway was now clutter free, like Tyler's bedroom, the stairs now walkable, and halfway into the lounge were Tyler and Josh, Josh was taking a pair of burnt socks from the fire place, unsure as to how they had gotten there in the first place.

Tyler was vacuuming the floor, happily humming to himself. Josh began to fill a garbage bag with the clothes he could wash, walking around and picking up the things Tyler left behind.

Tyler seemed quite comfortable with the vacuum now, previously not even knowing he owned one. Josh taught him how to turn it on and after watching Tyler run it over the carpet a few times, he then told him he had to actually plug it into the wall and turn it on first.

"Hey Ty?"

Tyler looks up, Josh not facing him.

"What happened to these?" He holds up the crispy socks and Tyler stares for a moment, seemingly getting lost in his own head. It seems to finally click as to what Tyler was looking at, Tyler takes a step back and breathes heavily, letting his chest rise and fall hard.

He's half panting, panic setting in.

He knows how they got there, he knows what they're from, he knows.
Josh slowly lowers the socks, Tyler's eyes following them as the drop onto the floor.

He shakes his head finally and slows his breathing.

"I'm not sure, I must've forgot about them," He's now even quieter and Josh is concerned.

It's just a pair of socks, he thinks, but Tyler has his reasons, reasons Josh will never know.

They finish up in complete silence. Once everything is completed, Josh shows Tyler how to wash the clothes and tells him to hang them up outside, but Tyler isn't replying anymore.

Instead of looking at Josh, he's always looking just past him, fear and anger present in his expression. Josh takes this as his cue to leave Tyler alone for a little while, as he's leaving, he feels a hand catch his arms and spin him around.

"Thankyou," Tyler finally speaks and leans forward, quickly and awkwardly giving Josh a hug, not giving Josh anytime to actually hug him back.

"It's okay buddy, I'll see you later okay?" Josh smiles and closes the front door, leaving Tyler to stand in his hallway, panting and starting to shake.

Tyler turns from the door and immediately grips at his head, letting a few short whimpers and sharp breaths go. He starts to shake harder, shaking his head as hard as he can.

"You messed up," he hears them whisper and he begins to scratch. "Josh knows, he's gonna tell on you," the childish voice calls softly but Tyler doesn't hear, instead paces his clean lounge room, scratching at his neck, scratching until he can feel the blood trickle down his back and chest.

Tyler shakes his head, shakes it harder, he wants to tell them to shut up but knows he can't. He knows he can't disrespect them, so he just takes the abuse they're spitting like daggers over and over.

He drops to his knees and sobs softly, continuing to scratch his neck until he finally feels the pain.

The pain.

The pain.

The pain.

He wishes Josh would walk back through that door and help him out, but he doesn't want to concern Josh, so Tyler picks himself up, dusts his knees and heads upstairs.

He needs sleep, sleep is what will kill the voices.

Tyler peels back his covers and crawls inside, curling in on himself.

He lets his eyes close and dozes off finally, somehow finding Josh within his nightmares.