omegle • joshler

your little sniffles woke me up.

josh refreshes the page over and over again, hoping that maybe it was just some sort of glitch and tyler was perfectly fine. who is this person he's talking about? maybe an abusive parent or something?

the website eventually became too laggy and overwhelmed with restarting conversations and refreshing, and froze. josh slammed his laptop shut and threw it onto the bed beside him, burying his face in his hands. he needs to stop this weird obsession growing towards the strange boy from ohio through the internet.

"josh?" a small voice appears from the door.

"what?" he replies, now realizing that he has been crying.

ashley walks in as he quickly wipes away at his eyes. he doesn't look at her.

"are you okay?"

he faces away and picks at the loose strings on his pajamas. "yeah, why?"

she frowns. "it's so late and you're still awake. but, your little sniffles woke me up."

he doesn't reply.

"i know that means you're crying."

he closes his eyes and hides in his hands. "no i'm not."

"please." she sighs. "what's wrong?"

he lets out a breath of air and faces her, his eyes red and watery. she gives him a hug.

"mom says you haven't been sleeping. and i've noticed you haven't taken your pills in a while."

josh pulls away and stands up. "oh my god, you said you wouldn't talk about those. you weren't even supposed to know."

"well i do know and i want to talk about them." she argues back. "i know you aren't better. you can lie to us or mom or the therapist all you want but i know you better than that."

"i am trying." he replies. "i promise you that i'm trying."

"then why are you so emotional lately?"

he studies her face. should he tell her about tyler? no, that would be weird. she wouldn't understand.

"please," he begs. "everything will be okay just please trust me and... just go back to bed."

ashley sighs. "okay, fine. please get some sleep, though."

he nods. "i will."

he won't.

"goodnight, bro." she half smiles, exiting the room. he waves her off and lays back in bed, closing his eyes, tyler's face floating around his mind.

...

"you didn't come to school today." brendon points out the obvious, over the phone with josh.

"i wasn't feeling good." josh replies. it wasn't a total lie.

"well are you coming tomorrow?" he asks. "or do you wanna hang out with me and everyone tonight? we're having a campfire at hayley's."

"i'm sorry, i won't be able to." josh says sadly.

"i miss you, buddy."

"i miss you too. see you tomorrow."

he hangs up and another knock appears on josh's door, making him internally groan. his mother walks in with a concerned look on her face.

"josh? have you been in bed all day?"

he nods.

"did you eat at least?"

he shakes his head and she sits beside him.

"honey, what's wrong?"

"i just don't feel good." he sighs.

"are you getting sick?"

"no, i'll be okay. i just wanna go back to sleep, if that's okay."

she pauses. "is it about dad?"

"i don't want to talk about dad." josh replies, a hint of anger in his voice. "and no, it's not. can you please go?"

"of course. but before i go, i booked an appointment with dr. hoppus again for later this week. you'll have to miss half the day on friday." she explains.

josh groans. "no, no more doctor appointments."

"please do this for us."

he gives her a look. "did ashley say something?"

she tilts her head. "no? should ashley be telling me something?"

"nevermind. i'll go to the stupid doctors."

she smiles sadly and leaves the room without saying anything. tears fill josh's eyes as he stares up at the ceiling, wishing he could just be happy. he doesn't understand how a person can make him feel so happy and so sad all at once. maybe he will be on omegle tonight and explain everything.

or maybe he's gone forever and never wants to talk to josh again.

or maybe he found a new friend on omegle who needs him more than josh does.

or maybe he's dead.

josh angrily shakes his head, trying to rid his thoughts. tyler is just fine. and he is going to be on tonight.

but part of josh doesn't want him to be. he wishes he could just forget about tyler, but he can't. part of him can't wait to talk to him, but a huge part is mad at him.

no, a huge part of josh is pissed at tyler, and he is going to confront him about it tonight.