"I spoke with the construction workers, they said it'd be about a week to fix the roof. That damned airline better not fuck us over on the shade match." Tyler's dad said as he drove his son to his Psychiatrist appointment.
"They still don't know?"
"Know what?"
"Where it came from?"
"No, they said something about the verification number being burned off."
Tyler chuckled at the stupidity of the situation. "So we're not supposed to talk about what no one knows?" He stated that obvious. "Yeah," his dad chuckled as well, "but you can tell your psychiatrist, what's her name again?" He asked and glanced at him, taking his eyes off the road. "Dr. Black." Tyler told him and his dad nodded.
"Dad." Tyler said, hoping his father would look at the road where we were about to hit an old lady. "Dad!" He exclaimed and his father finally looked at the road. The car screeched to a stop, barely missing the old lady. That was when Tyler realized who the lady was, Grandma Death.
They both got out of the car to check on her but she just walked over to her mailbox to check if she had any mail. Tyler shadowed her, wanting to see if she had finally received something. She opened the mailbox labeled H. Williams just to find nothing. "No mail today, try again tomorrow." Donnie said and the old woman turned to him and whispered something in his ear. She then proceeded to walk into her house leaving Tyler dumbfounded. "What did she say to you?" His father whispered but Tyler had no words.
•
"I made a friend." Tyler broke the silence between him and Dr. Black. "Real or imaginary?"
"Imaginary."
"Would you like to talk about this friend?" She asked in a tone that made her sound like she wanted to know but also hated her life. "His names Clancy." He told her and she leaned her arms on the clipboard. "What did Clancy say to you?" She asked, He hesitated before answering, "He told me to follow him."
"Follow him where?"
"Into the future."
"... and then what?" She seemed taken aback. "And then... Then he told me the world was coming to an end." Tyler said and avoided her eyes. The voice echoed in his head, "Twenty eight days, six hours..." he looked back up to see her staring at him, shocked. "Do you... think the world is going to end?" She asked, her voice almost cautious. "No." I said quickly, she'll think I'm crazy if I say anything different, whether I believe it will end or not. Twenty-eight days, six hours, fourth two minutes, twelve seconds. Could that actually be possible? "No," I laughed lightly, "that's stupid." Who am I convincing, me or her?
•
The next day at school the teacher happily pulled out the tv and out in a tape. Billie Joe Armstrong. It was his bullshit video about love and fear. Every time his stupid face showed up to tell you whether the situation was dealing with love or fear it gave me a new reason to want to punch him in the face.
•
Tyler slept on the couch since his room was currently under construction. He had a dream of the school being flooded with water.
"Wake up, Tyler." He rose off the couch, in a trance. Barefoot, he walked to the school with an ax over his shoulder. He let himself down into the basement, to the main water pipe.
•
Tyler listened to Maddy read her book report on The Last Unicorn while they waited for the bus. Two girls ran up and told them school was canceled because the school was flooded. "That's the best news I've ever heard." Brendon said with a laugh. Tyler was a little shocked at the news. Was it a coincidence that he has dreamt of the school flooding then it actually happens the next morning?
Meanwhile, at the school, the principal and janitor discussed the damages. "This isn't even everything." The janitor said to the shocked principle.
They walked over to the statue in front of the school. An ax was stuck in the head of the bulldog sculpture and the words "they made me do it" spray painted around the base.
While Tyler walked home he thought more of his dream. He remembered seeing the school flooded with water, the sun shining in, was there no roof? The next thing he could remember was swinging an ax... then waking up on the couch with a wet T-shirt.
He looked down the road to see Gerard Way and Pete Wentz messing with the new kid... Josh was it?
"Hey," I said as I walked closer, "Hey." Josh responded, locking his eyes on me. "Schools canceled." I said and looked over at Gerard and Pete. "Would you want to walk with me?" Josh asked and I agreed I would. Gerard and Pete stared me down as we walked by, I stared right back.
"Don't look so freaked." Josh said once we were far enough that they couldn't hear us. "What? I'm not. I would check your bag those guys like to steal stuff." I told him and he rolled his eyes and flipped them off but continued walking alongside me.
"So, why'd you move here?" I asked and put my hands in my pockets. "My parents got a divorce, restraining order and everything. My dad... he's got emotional problems." Josh told me. "Hey, I've got those too," I said maybe a little too enthusiastically, "what type of emotional problems does your dad have?"
"He uh shot my mom."
"Did he go to jail?"
"No, he fled the country. They still can't find him so we had to change our names. I thought Josh Dun would make me sound pretty cool." He shrugged. "I went to jail once, oh uh... not like that I just accidentally burnt down this house... it was abandoned but I'm like over all that now, I'm making music and stuff." I shrugged, hoping I didn't sound like a complete idiot.
"Tyler Joseph, that sounds like some kind of superhero disguise name." He said and a small smirk. "Maybe I am." I joked back.
The two boys continued down the road, talking about a project Josh was assigned. "Hey uh, I'm pretty glad school was flooded today." Tyler said, hoping it wouldn't make it sound like he flooded the school. "Why's that?" Josh asked back. "Because we would have never had this conversation." I said with a small shrug. "You're weird." Josh said and a slightly twisted face. "I'm sorry." Tyler's voice was quieter, he considered turning around and walking away. "I meant it as a compliment." He said and they smiled at each other.
"Would you want to uhh... go with me?" Tyler asked nervously. "Go with you where?" Josh asked confused, Tyler laughed a little. "No like go with me, that what we call it here." Tyler tried to act smooth, expecting a no. "Sure." Josh said with a smile. They smiled at each other for a few seconds before Josh turned and started walking home.
"Wait where are you going?" He asked, a little shocked. "I'm going home." Josh laughed and opened the gate to his front yard. Once he was out of sight Tyler groaned at himself. "Wow that was stupid, wanna go with me?" Tyler mocked himself as he walked down the sidewalk, on his way home.
