:[march to the sea]:

|||six|||

J O S H

Tyler and I have been hanging out for a few weeks now. I haven't seen him get bullied again, and he only switches every once in a while. I've still only met Blurryface, but I think he changes to other people too. I walk into lunch. I haven't seen Tyler yet today. I get into the lunch line. Today's pizza day.

When I go towards our usual table, I'm taken aback by what I see. Tyler's eating his usual sandwich and water, but he's wearing a pink sweater and a white skirt.

What the hell? He normally wears black skinny jeans and a hoodie.

I mean, I'm not judging. He can wear whatever he feels comfortable in. But, I guess this is just really different. I sit down in front of him.

"Hey Joshy!" His voice is higher, like the first time he came to my house.

"Hi Tyler. What's up?" I ask, pretending not to notice anything different.

"Please, call me Ruby." He giggles.

"O-ok." I give an unsure smile.

"I know it's weird. The skirt and stuff. Tyler hates when I wear it." He laughs.

"Sorry, but I still don't really understand. Aren't you Tyler?" I ask. Hopefully I won't offend him- or her- them.

"Well, don't tell Tyler I told you. He has multiple personality disorder. Poor kid hates himself for it." They tsk.

"Oh. It all makes since now. Wait so he can change into a girls personality?" I ask, still slightly confused. I have heard of multiple personality disorder before. Tyler definitely has it.

"Yup. I'm the only girl though." They say, sipping from their water bottle.

"So there's other people than just you and Blurryface? Also, sorry if I ever offend you, I'm still kinda new to this."

"You're fine." They smile. "And yeah. There's Whisperer, Mr. Misty Eye, Johnny, and a bunch of others who don't want their names shared. Whisperer is quiet and reserved. He's really good at art and he's pretty smart. He's the most anxious. Mr. Misty Eye is the oldest and the wisest. He usually makes the smartest decisions out of all of us. Johnny is dumb and reckless. He's around Tyler's age. I'm the youngest, and the most social. Tyler likes me the best. Blurryface is the worst though. We all hate him. He's psychotic and cruel. He tells Tyler he's helping though, but Tyler believes him." This is the most I've heard Tyler talk. Well, Maddy I guess.

"Does Tyler like when he switches to other people?" I ask curiously.

"He likes me, Misty, and Whispers. He hates blurryface and he doesn't like johnny. He just hates when I pick out his clothes though. He doesn't think he looks cute in them, no matter how much I tell him." They sigh.

"Well tell him you do look cute." I say honestly. They giggle and cover their face to hide their blush. "It's nice to meet you, Ruby. Thanks for letting me know what's going on too. I'm glad I can finally understand it." I smile.

"No problem. Just don't mention it to Tyler. He'll kill me." their smile drops. Their eyes fill with tears. They look down.

"Damnit." It must be Tyler again. His voice is back to normal. He looks back up at me. "I didn't mean to dress like this. Please, please don't think I'm weird." He begs.

"You're fine Ty, you look cute." He looks down when he blushes.

"Can I tell you something important? You can leave me alone and I'll never talk to you ever again if it freaks you out. I've been meaning to tell you since day one, I've just been too embarrassed. You probably already figured it out though." He gulps.

I nod. "You can always talk to me. I won't judge you or get freaked out."

"Ok- I have multiple personality disorder, which is why I randomly become Blurryface and want to kill you. It's also why I'm dressed like this." He chokes out.

"I know. And you're still the same person you are when I met you. It doesn't make you any different. And I'll talk to every one of your personalities and it wouldn't make me like you any less. Actually, I really liked talking to Ruby. Blurryface is kind of a handful, but I can get used to him. You're still my favorite person to talk to in this whole school." I state. He smiles.

"Really?"

"Mhm." I take another bite of my pizza.

"Ugh, I'm so relieved. I have to fight with them all just so I can stay in control. It's so much work. I thought you'd be scared of me if I randomly started acting like a girl." He admits.

"Never. And I'm sorry you had to fight with them. Next time, whatever happens happens, and I'll understand and I'll talk to them just like I talk to you. You don't have to be constantly restraining yourself, I just want you to be comfortable." I promise him.

"You're the nicest person I've ever talked to." He smiles at me.

"Don't be embarrassed about your clothes either. They're actually really nice and you look good in them." I tell the skinny boy.

"I honestly don't know how to thank you. No ones ever told me anything like that." He blushes.

"Really? Cause I think you're the cutest thing I've ever seen. It'd be hard not to tell you that." I flirt.

"Stop!" He whines.

"What, I'm just being honest." I say, enjoying how flustered the boy seems at the compliments.

"Well to be honest, you're making it harder for me to hear." He giggles. He must not realize that I have no idea what he's talking about.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"Sorry, I keep forgetting you aren't like me. Basically, everyone's talking right now and it's hard for me to hear anything outside of my head. Y-you're like... setting off a bunch of alarms right now I guess. It's fine though, I forgot you don't know what that's like." He shrugs.

"I'm sorry Ty. I'll stop." I feel horrible for him. Ruby said he hates himself for being like this.

"It's fine, I kinda like the compliments. It just brings back some bad memories and everyone's kinda freaking out." He says nonchalantly.

"Wait so it's not just like you change into different people, but you can hear them too?" I ask.

"Yeah. There's constantly at least one person talking cause none of them will ever shut up. But, life sucks so I gotta get over it." He drinks the last of his water.

"Is there like any treatment for it?"

"Yeah, but it only helps to a certain extent. It can't be cured and the doctor told me the auditory hallucinations might never go away. They really don't feel like hallucinations though. I'd probably go even more insane without them, after having them for years." He describes.

"I'd probably feel the same way. Thanks for opening up so much to me today. It really means a lot to me that you feel so comfortable with me to tell me all of that. And if you ever need anything, let me know. I'd be more than happy to help you. You really mean a lot to me, Tyler. Even if we've only been talking for a few weeks."

"You mean a lot to me too, Josh." He gives me a shy smile as the bell rings.

Poor kid. I never would've thought he has to go through all of that.