Welcome To Trench

Chapter Three | Tyler Joseph

"The fires ready." He smiled kindly, "I hope you're hungry."

Water in hand, you turned and stepped over to where Tyler was, joining him by the fire. You sat on the uncomfortable ground next to him yet you still kept your distance. "Hungry is an understatement," you said, "I could eat an entire horse!"

Tyler chuckled quietly, "I haven't hunted down a horse, sorry. Hopefully a squirrel will do?" 

Your face wrinkled in disgust. Suddenly, you weren't hungry anymore. "Squirrel?!"

"Yeah," Tyler plated the creature, poking at its lifeless and cooked body. "At least I think that's what it is. The more I look at it though, it might be some kind of bird." He sounded so unsure, that you couldn't tell if he was just joking or if you should be concerned.

"Uh, no thanks. There's no way you're getting me to put that in my mouth." you replied as you held up your hands defensively when he offered you a plate. He just grinned.

"Oh come on!" Tyler pleaded, continuing to shove it towards you to which you backed away in response. "Please, just a bite. Pretty please~" he batted his eyelashes and gave a small pout.

A sigh left your nose as you rolled your eyes, "Fine," you groaned, "Only because I know you won't leave me alone." You begrudgingly took hold of the plate he offered and picked up the plastic fork placed upon it. You stared down at the... thing. You were hesitant as you cut off a small corner of the animal and warily inspected the meat. Well, it wasn't under cooked, so that's good at least.

"I swear, if I get food poisoning after eating this.." You mumbled under your breath as Tyler watched you intensely from where he sat, a plate of his own sitting untouched in his lap. You held your breath when the fork entered your mouth, and dear god it felt so wrong.

But it tasted so... right?

"What the fuck?" your mouth was still full, and you stared down at the plate in shock.

"Oh no, it's bad, isn't it?" Tyler's curious grin was replaced by a look of disappointment.

You finally swallowed the small chunk and lowered the plate to your lap. "No it's.. it's actually not too bad."

"Oh thank God!" Tyler exhaled a sigh of relief, solace filling his tone. "Because if you didn't like it, then I was't going to eat it either." He explained, making it sound as if you were his taste tester.

*****

Time had passed, and the two of you had just been exchanging small talk as you finished your meals.

"You're lucky I just happened to be there." said Tyler, glancing towards you when he brought up your escape from DEMA. "Otherwise you'd be a goner." He stifled a small laugh. It was quiet for a few seconds. "Why did you do that anyway? Leave, I mean." He was looking directly at you now.

You shrugged, knees pulled to your chest. "I didn't belong there. None of us did, really. I was just one of the few who decided to do something about it, I guess." Tyler looked away, and you peered in his direction. "What about you?"

Tyler didn't respond for a couple seconds. "I was like you. I felt like I didn't belong, like I didn't live in a society." You knitted your brows slightly, "No one there was human, just mindless robots. We didn't have emotions. No happiness, no smiles, no hope. It's like we didn't know what any of that even was." This side of Tyler was different. No sense of sarcasm or laughter. He was heavy. "We were all numb. Not allowed to feel."

You stared at him whilst his gaze gripped the small fire. The reflection of the yellow flames burned into his solemn stare.

"I was with a friend when I made my first attempt at freedom. We had planned the whole thing only weeks prior. Man, we were such idiotic teenagers. Not him, though. No, Josh was a good friend. Probably the best there is." He smiles fondly at the name. Tyler had been frowning since the story began, but for some reason his face seems to light up at the mention of his friend. Josh must be pretty special, you assumed.

"We were fine until we discovered one of the exits had an alarm attached to it. So we ran as fast as we could, meanwhile a whole pack of guards chased after us. We just kept running and didn't stop. But we eventually came to a dead end- a tall metal fence at the end of a long alley way. There was bits of barbed wire at the top, but that didn't stop us. So we climbed and security still chased. Josh made it over. I, on the other hand, got myself caught on part of the fence wire. I tugged and I tugged, but it was hopeless." 

You swallowed, realizing your throat was dry. "What.. what happened?" you already had a good idea of what occurred next, but you thought you might as well ask. You didn't know how else to respond, anyway.

Tyler averted his gaze from the fire, and in his lap is where he fiddled with his hands nervously. "He said he'd come back. Josh promised he'd come back for me. I doubted he'd have anyone to come back to though, but to my surprise, they didn't give me the death penalty." Tyler went on, referring to the Bishops as 'they'. "Instead, they tried to teach me the proper ways of living. Tried to make me forget. But I refused the lesson. I remembered."

You could tell there was a lot more to what Tyler said, that he spoke only a fraction of what went on after being captured, but you didn't bother urging him to elaborate. 

"And then he came, just as he promised." 

Silence.

Tyler said no more. Instead, he remained quiet and thought to himself, remembering vividly of that time. He remembered how safe he felt the moment he stepped out from his front door and was met with those mocha brown eyes that belonged to Josh. He longed to feel that sense of security once again.

Josh was special.

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I shall bless thee with such beauty

you're welcome :)