His Name Is Blurryface *Joshler*

17

“Morning Ty!” Josh says in a sing-song tune, entering Tyler’s room. Of course, he finds Tyler soundly asleep. Josh almost feels bad for having to wake Tyler up in such a peaceful sleeping form. Josh quickly contemplates what he should do. He settled on ‘oh screw it’ and yanks the blanket off Tyler. “Up! Up! Up!”

“Ughghhhgh.” Tyler says sleepily, trying to grab the blankets back.

“Nope! Get up sleepy pants.”

“H-ha-te y-you.” Tyler sighs as he rubs his eyes.

“You’re gonna hate me more when I tell you that we’re having a speech therapy meeting in 10 minutes.”

“Ha-a-te y-y-ou.” Tyler repeats.

“Yeah, totally saw that coming. Now here are your meds and let’s go Ty.” Josh says as he springs over to the side of the bed, extended an arm for Tyler to hold onto, and giving Tyler his meds. Tyler reaches out, grabs the offered hand, and doesn’t let go.

“The room is just past all the patient rooms. You’re gonna love Pete, he’s amazing.” Josh says as they continue walking down the hallway. Suddenly, something yanks his hand backwards and prevents him from moving forward. That something was Tyler. Tyler leans against the wall, still clutching onto Josh’s hand, and sinks down to the floor.

“Ty? Ty? What’s wrong?” Josh asks concerned, sinking down to Tyler’s level.

“P-pan-ic a-at-tack-ck. N-new-w p-p-per-s-son-n.” Tyler stutters out harder than normal due to his irregular breathing.

“Ty breathe with me. Follow my breaths, okay? You’re okay. You’re safe. Nothing’s going to happen. You’re okay. Follow me, okay?” Josh mutters in a soft voice as he begins to take leading deep breaths and repeating them. “You’re doing so good Ty. Just keep focusing on your breathing. I know it’s scary, but you’re okay.” Josh reassured as he let Tyler control his own breathing rate.

After a few minutes, Tyler wasn’t making much progress. This is when Josh decides to use some grounding techniques instead of breathing exercises.

“Ty, can you tell me five things you can see?”

“Uh-hm. Y-ou, the wa-ll, si-gns, li-ghts, a-and. A-nd. I-I do-n’t kn-ow jo-sh.”

“Yes you do bud. Can you see Brendon down the hallway?”

“Mm-hm.”

“Good! See, that’s number five. Okay, now can you tell me four things you can feel?”

“Mmm. Y-your ha-nd, the floor-r, the w-wall, my b-brace-let.”

“You’re doing so well Ty. Okay, three things you can hear?”

“Y-your voi-ce, my v-voice, beep-ing.”

“Two things you can smell?”

“Hos-pital, y-you.”

“Nice! One deep breath.”

Tyler was able to slow his breathing, but Josh noticed tears forming in his eyes.

“Ty? Talk to me, what’s bothering you?” Josh says, now sitting fully on the floor, leaning against the wall.

“I c-can’t me-et n-new peo-ple. ‘Tis s-sca-ry.”

“Ty, it’s okay. I know that meeting new people is scary, but look how meeting me turned out! Everyone here is super nice and supportive. We all want the best for you and we’d never ever hurt you in anyway. You know that. Also, I’ll still be in the room with you. I was serious when I told you that I’m never leaving. You don’t have to do any of this alone.”

“I k-know…”

“Good. You’re okay Ty. You’re doing so good.” Josh says, pausing to let Tyler gather himself a bit. “You ready?” He asks, shaking their linked hands as encouragement.

“Mnmnn.”

“C’mon Ty. I know you don’t want to, but we gotta.”

“Mmph.” Tyler grunts as he stands to his feet with some help from Josh.

“Alright. On we go.”

There was a comfortable silence as they walked further down the hallway. They came to a gradual stop outside the door dubbed ‘speech therapy.’

“You got this Ty.” Josh encourages as he opens the door and leads them both inside.

“Hey guys!” Pete exclaims while standing from his chair. “Tyler, my name is Pete and I’m your speech therapist.” He says with a smile, making eye contact with Tyler. Tyler instantly finds shelter by hiding behind Josh’s back, gripping onto Josh’s hand harder.

“Hey Pete, give us a sec?” Josh asks, turning around to attend to Tyler.

“Yeah, absolutely. Take all the time you guys need.” Pete says as he sits back down on his chair.

“Ty. Hey Ty, please look at me.” Josh whispered to the shaking boy. “Ty c’mon, you know that you’re safe and that Pete isn’t going to hurt you.”

“Mmm.” Tyler mumbles as he slowly opens his eyes.

“Everything is okay Ty. Can we head over to those chairs?” Josh suggests as he slightly tugs Tyler up and guides them over to the chairs, sitting down.

“We good?” Josh asks quietly enough for only Tyler to hear him, earning a slight nod in response.

“Alright Pete, sorry for that, but we’re all good now.” Josh informs Pete.

“Awesome! Tyler, I just want you to know that I’m only here to help you and I want the best for you.” Pete said as he turns his body to face Tyler.

“Mmm.” Tyler responds.

“Ty, I know that you’ve only talked to me so far, but you gotta try to talk to Pete. He can’t help you much without you talking to him.” Josh tells Tyler, rubbing the back of his hand as a form of comfort. Tyler glanced up at Josh with a fearful expression on his face. “Ty, I know you’re scared, but Pete is here to help you. Nothing bad is going to happen if you speak to Pete. Please try, for me.”

“...O-okay-y.” Tyler says quietly, slowly bringing his gaze up to meet Pete’s.

“Thanks Tyler!” Pete says enthusiastically. “I figured before we start, you could share with me if you’ve stuttered for your whole life or if it’s just recently so that I can figure out what the best way to help you is.”

“Uhmm. J-just-t w-wh-en I st-arted t-talk-ing t-to J-jo-sh.” Tyler says while averting his eyes from both Pete and Josh.

“What I know is that Tyler didn’t speak for at least five years before speaking to me.” Josh adds.

“Oh. So is it reasonable for me to conclude that the stutter is due to not using your vocal cords for an extended period of time?” Pete inquires Tyler, earning a nod in return. “Okay, well I have good news for you Tyler! Since it’s due to the inactivity of speaking, it’s actually a lot easier to rid the stutter than if it was since birth. You may have noticed that your stutter may have gotten better over the past couple days just by talking to Josh.”

“Y-eah.” Tyler says, squeezing Josh’s hand.

“Good! Basically, to rid the stutter, you just have to talk more. I know that it’s not as simple as it sounds, but the more you’re able to talk, the faster the stutter will begin to fade. It’s all about exercising your voice again.” Pete informs both Tyler and Josh, gaining a nod from both boys. “We’ll have another meeting in a week to see how you’re doing. If it’s purely because of the lack of use, the stutter should be gone in a couple days if you work on it constantly.”

“Sounds good! Thanks again, Pete.” Josh says as he leads Tyler towards the door.

“Yup, see ya Dun!” Pete responds as the two boys walk out of his office.