dull screams - joshler

1. welcome home.

"jacobs..."

tyler visibly tensed as the headmistress started calling out "j" names. he knew that it was only a matter of minutes before he was going to be sent off to his sleeping quarters with the hundreds of other orphaned teen boys.

"jewitt..."

mr. way, tyler's social worker and therapist, patted the anxious boy's shoulder and offered a sad smile. "i'm gonna miss you, buddy. it was fun working with you."

"johnson..."

"thanks, gerard," tyler muttered, twirling and tugging the hair at the top of his head.

"jolene..."

he didn't know if he could do this. as he looked around at all the other boys, he was intimidated. some of them were just as nervous as him. others offered him snickers or glares. some even made kissy lips at him.

tyler felt sick.

he wanted his mom and dad.

"josalyn..."

he was trying to remain calm in front of all the other kids and adults, but the nerves were bubbling up in tyler's stomach in the form of bile. he knew it was from anxiety and he pushed it down as best he could, but he already knew he had crossed the line. then-

"joseph..."

everyone in the room froze as tyler rose to his feet, and then fell to his knees and vomited up the contents of his stomach.

"tyler!" mr. way exclaimed as he rushed to help his patient. the kids burst into laughter, pointing and jeering at him. the room was filled with disgusted muttering and concerned whispers from parents, which was no consolation. tyler let mr. way help him up into his chair and his head fell backwards onto the seat.

he was mortified. his eyes were blurry. he couldn't breathe. then everything went dark.

what a way to start off a new life.

•••

tyler woke up to hands on his face. the hands ran up his cheeks, across his lips, and to his eyes.

at first, his biggest concern was not waking up in the mental hospital. after nearly a month of sleeping in the same place, it's a little off-putting to suddenly be placed in a big room with ghastly yellow walls and nine other occupied beds.

the hands jerked away and the owner of them muttered a million apologies. their voice was like running a warm bath - loud and fast but oddly comforting. tyler looked up.

he was immediately drawn to the boy's puppy dog eyes. cute. he had a large forehead, dark hair, and full lips. he was lean - not as skinny as tyler, but lean - and had on a worn black t-shirt and jeans.

"sorry man, i don't really know why i did that...i mean, i know why i did it but it's dumb, sorry...sorry about that..." the boy chuckled and stared at his lap, his head tilted down just enough so that tyler couldn't see his blush.

tyler ran a hand through his hair and looked around. "how did i-"

"oh!" shouted the boy, startling tyler. "well, basically what happened was you threw up during roll call and then you passed out so the headmistress told me i could take you to your room so i carried you all the way up here and made sure your bed was right next to mine so we could be friends!"

tyler needed a moment. damn, this boy talks a lot, he thought. "um, okay."

"really? yay! i can't wait to introduce you to everyone else! oh and i learned your name from your therapist guy. i hope you don't mind. i love the name tyler! it's so rugged!" the boy gave tyler a toothy grin, and tyler couldn't help but smile back a little.

"what's your name?" tyler asked.

the boy furrowed his brow for a moment, as if no one had ever asked him that question before, then smiled again. "oh, me? my name's brendon."

~