S L O W T O W N

Under The Radar

He feels for the wad of cash in his pocket, a cigarette in his mouth as he strolls down the street, hood up.

People rush past, bumping into him, unaware of who he was, Josh thanking every deity under the sun for that blessing, praying today wasn't the day to get caught.

He wasn't even sure if he had to hide his face yet, he didn't know how sought after he was, but his mother had always taught him better safe than sorry.

His mother, Laura.

Josh sighed deep, letting her face flash behind his eyes with every blink, Abby, Jordan.

They would all come home, and find him missing, officers would knock on the door and look for him, Laura would have a heart attack.

Jordan would've seen something like this coming, Abby would be confused.

It was Abby Josh was the most disheartened about, her sweet little face in agony once her brother and Tyler weren't there anymore, the two people who payed her the most attention, and her most favourite person in the world, gone.

Abby had a weird attraction to Tyler, and Tyler found himself quite attached to her himself, enjoying dress ups and play time.

Josh wondered if this was because Tyler grew up without ever having another child to play with, without playing dress up and getting into his mothers makeup.

And maybe that's why the guilt filling Josh's stomach made him want to throw up, ripping away the one thing Tyler had missed out on from his sweet naive sister.

He shakes his head, forcing the guilt trip out of his head.

Josh's hair, tucked under a black cap, was the one thing he was afraid people would notice him by, not able to change the colour again, money, time and products unavailable to him.

Josh, on his way to the local market in the city centre, aware of how dangerous this task would be, was panicking.

He had a mental list of items they needed, food, some sort of cover or blankets for their bed, toilet necessities, yet a limited amount of money to acquire these things with.

He stops at the busy intersection, traffic piling up, an army worth of people crowding the side walk, shoving him nearly to the curb.

Josh shuffles awkwardly, the lights blinking green, he hurries across the street out of public eye, a cloud of smoke erupting from him as he reaches the other side, quickly slipping behind a wall of people, sticking to the building side of the path way.

He hurries down the street, a few block away would be the markets, he just had to reach it, stopping briefly to stomp out the smoke butt.

Josh wouldn't lie, he was in anxiety mode, leaving Tyler alone in the apartment they had acquired.

If Josh was to ever meet Brendon again, he would thank him one thousand times over, still unsure on why the older man had leant his old apartment to him, not complaining honestly.

Josh had no clue where he and Tyler would've stayed once they actually reached the city by themselves , knowing the deposit he wanted to make would've been a sure fire way for him to be caught.

Rounding the corner, Josh is in the market, idly walking through the aisles between stalls, looking around at random pieces of jewellery.

He plucks an apple off a fruit stand, ready to catch the sellers attention when she waves him off, turning back to her conversation with another lady.

Josh squints, about to place the apple back down.

But something angrily burns inside him, so he slowly slips the apple into his jumper pocket and darts away, a victorious grin on his face.

"I'm already in trouble with the law, I don't care," he mumbles out loud to his conscious, spying a merchant with a load of woollen blankets and pillows for sale.

Josh enters behind the stall to view the blankets better, a beautiful red black and white weave hanging on the wall calls to him.

He pulls it down, it unfolds and hits the ground. Josh quickly scrambles to pick it up, bundling it up in his arms.

"How much?" Josh questions the watchful seller, who eyes the blanket and looks back to Josh.

"Fifty," he replies, Josh's jaw drops.

"Fifty bucks?!"

"Fifty," the man repeats, folding his arms across his chest.

"Could you go for forty?" Josh asks hopeful, smiling pleasantly.

"Fifty," the man is harder this time, stepping forward, taller than Josh and towering him. "If you can't afford it," he snatches it. "Don't touch it,"

"Sir, it's for my boyfriend," Josh tries to look as pleasing as he possibly can. "We don't have much, we just moved here,"

"Sorry bucko," the man shakes his head, hanging the blanket back on the wall. "I have some cheaper ones, there's  a reject box," he admits, turning to rummage through a beaten up cardboard box.

"May I see?" Josh steps forward tentatively, the man reluctantly nodding.

Josh fumbles through the box, a larger, but wonky and fraying red and black blanket lays at the bottom.

Josh takes it out, a golden torn trim around the edge, initials inscribed on the bottom.

He gasps, looking to the man.

"That something I made for my wife, but she left, so you can have it," the man shrugs. "You need it more than she does,"

Josh beams, launching forward and hugging the man tightly.

"Thankyou so much!" He pulls away, the stunned seller just nods, watching Josh's skip as he exits the stall and heads down to a few others.

He cradled the blanket the entire shopping trip, fingers running over the golden letters, wondering who on earth the previous 'T' and 'J' were, every time he fingers the little plus sign between both initials, his heart skips a beat, remembering Tyler at home.

He hoped he wasn't too bored or lonely, or he wasn't getting into trouble.

On his way home, arms filled with bags and random items, Josh decides to spend his last couple of dollars for this shopping spree on a pizza, in celebration of the first time Tyler and he had travelled to the city, in celebration of their new life together.

He stumbles up the scaffolding to their back door, nudging the door open.

Josh pauses, there's a flowery scent in the air, light music from the old box TV, Tyler in the kitchen wiping down cupboards, dusting the layer of grim away, disposing of dead cockroaches, small insects that had been trapped and never freed.

"Glad to see those cleaning skills are coming in handy Mister I don't know how to clean," Josh smirks.

Tyler jumps, spinning to see the load of groceries and assortment of other necessities.

"Well maybe Mister, I have a chef mother, would like to help me cook something for dinner?" Tyler smirks back, hands on his hips, a dirty washcloth in his hand.

Josh unravels himself from the load of bags, placing the pizza box on the dining table.

"Bon appetite,"