Shadow ; Joshler

Twø

;☁️;🌙;☁️;

"We're here!" Josh said with excitement as I parked my car at the edge of a forest thick with trees. I smile at how eager he was. I opened the door and brought out the bag of Taco Bell I had boughten on the way.

Josh said there were no Taco Bells in his dimension so I said that the first thing he eats in this dimension is going to be Taco Bell whether he likes it or not. He seemed fine with it because he knew how much I loved that place. He even embarrassingly knew about the cringey song I had written about it.

"How far do we have to walk?" I asked Josh. He made a thinking noise.

"About an hour and 15 minutes into the forest. It'll be a nice exercise. Well, for you at least. I'm not physically here yet." Josh said. I groaned. Josh knows I hate exercise. At least I'll get to see him after.

I want to be able to see my first ever friend, or I guess we're not technically friends yet. I'm still not sure if he likes me besides the fact that he's forced to like me by the ways of his dimension. Like he could hate me for all I know, but he has to pretend he doesn't all because it's his job.

"Josh?" I asked.

"Yeah man?" He replied.

"Do you actually like me? Not in that kind of way, but you're forced to like me anyway, but do you actually hate me? Do you hate being my shadow?" I ask nervously. Josh pauses for moment, only building up my anxiety more.

"Tyler, of course I like you. Yes, I'm forced to like you, but even if I wasn't I'd still like you anyway. You're a really cool and talented kid, and I'm so glad I got to be chosen as your shadow. If a blurry shadow were chosen to be your shadow, I'd kill myself anyway." Josh said, sincerity laced in his soft voice.

"What do you mean by 'anyway'?" I ask Josh, worry breaking through in my voice. Josh paused again.

"I'll explain everything when I'm physically here." Josh said softly. I could hear that there was something wrong behind Josh's voice, but I'd rather not bring it up. If he wanted to talk to me about it, he would. I'd just have to wait.

The rest of the walk was in silence. I badly wanted to talk to Josh, but I didn't want to overwhelm him. He said he'd explain everything when he's here, so I had to wait until we arrived at the place Josh had said to stop at.

I looked around. A small beautiful crystal blue lake was hidden below a large cliff spread across the tree encrusted landscape. The sun was reflecting beautifully across the azure water, and a little victorian bridge stretched across it.

"This place is stunning!" I said to Josh in awe. I took my phone out and quickly took a picture. I smiled at the fact that a crow had photobombed the picture by swooping in close to my camera.

"I'm very nervous." Josh spoke out.

"Don't be. I can tell you're way more attractive than me just by your voice. I won't judge you, I promise." I said softly to Josh.

"Thank you so much, Ty. I'm so glad I can be your shadow." Josh said, and I didn't have to see him to know that he was smiling like a goof.

"What do I need to do to see you?" I asked Josh.

"See the lake?" Josh replied.

"Nope. Where is it?" I replied sarcastically. Josh laughed.

"Anyway, you need to go to the cliff. And bring the Taco Bell please and thank." Josh directed me. I nodded and picked up the Taco Bell and made my way toward the cliff. I sat that bag onto the forest floor once I had gotten there.