Air Catcher

Cerebral Thunder

Tyler's pov

"Are you sure you want me around your little cousins?" I asked into the phone.

"I'm horrible with kids. I'm desperate for some help. You'll be fine, and it's only for a little while. Please?" Alyx begged.

I laughed. "OK, OK. I'll help out. But it might not be a great idea."

"Tyler?" My mom called from somewhere across the house.

"Yeah?" I pulled the phone away from my ear for a second.

"Are you talking to that girl again?" She asked.

I scowled. "Yeah; I'm talking to my girlfriend." I emphasized the last word.

"Tell her you have to go. You don't need to spend every minute with her."

I rolled my eyes. "Alyx?"

"Yeah?"

"I've got to go. It's my mom... again." This had to be at least the fifth time she told me to hang up on Alyx.

Alyx sighed. "I wish she didn't hate me so much. I'll see you at school tomorrow I guess."

"Of course."

But the next morning I couldn't find it in me to go to school. I was being attacked from inside myself and it was worse than ever. I texted Alyx and Josh to tell them both I had a migraine and wouldn't be at school and spent the day trying to distract myself from the pain my own head was causing me. Nothing helped. I came up with some more lyrics for a song I decided to call Anathema, played my ukulele, and even listened to some Panic!. I was so tired. I just wanted to sleep, but I knew I couldn't try or everything would be even worse. I wished everything would just end. That was the thought that scared me the most. It wouldn't go away. No matter how hard I tried the idea that maybe everything would be better if there wasn't anything left had rooted itself in the back of my head and refused to leave. The longer it stayed the louder it became, eventually yelling at me as loud as my thoughts could muster. By the time school would have been over I was scared to be alone with myself, but I couldn't go to anyone. I paced for a while, and laid down. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to stop the tears. But no matter how long I laid there I couldn't stop crying. I couldn't fall asleep.

That's when Alyx called me.

"What can I do?" She asked.

"I- I don't know." My voice broke.

"It's even worse, isn't it?" Her voice was thick with concern.

I nodded vigorously, but didn't make a noise.

"Do you need me to come over?" She asked.

"I don't wanna give you all my pieces." I whispered.

"I'm on my way." Her voice was firm.

"But my mom..."

"Then I'll climb in your flipping window. I'm coming to help."

She had made up her mind. And honestly, it was a good thing she was coming. I had no idea why I had to try to convince her otherwise. I looked at the clock. It was already 10.

I sat on my bed and waited for the doorbell to ring, but heard nothing for at least twenty minutes. I began to panic when my phone vibrated.

'Could you open the stupid window?'

My head jerked in the direction of my window. I moved closer to it in order to see through the darkness and saw Alyx clinging to the window sill for dear life. She grinned at me. I pushed the window open as fast as I could and took the screen out.

"Alyx, what the crap? I thought you were joking!" I whispered as she climbed into my room.

She didn't say a word. Instead she wrapped her arms around me protectively.

"Thank you." I whispered as I hugged her tightly.

Two hours later Alyx was sitting against the wall singing soft quiet songs. My head laid on her lap and she used one hand to hold mine and the other to play with my hair. It helped at least a little to have someone there for me.

"Alyx?"

"Yeah?" She stopped singing.

"It's past midnight."

"OK." She sounded perfectly calm.

"When do you need to be home?" I asked.

"When you don't need me here anymore." She said simply.

I smiled up at her, but after a second it faded. "Tonight," My voice was small. "I need you to stay."

a/n: DO DO DO DO DO DO DO DO DO DO DO DO DO DO DO DO DO. Sorry, I had too.

"Alright." She smiled and started singing quietly again, but after only a short while her words tuned to yawns and her breaths turned slower and steadier until I looked over to her and found she had fallen asleep. Her head lolled on her shoulder and her hair fell in front of her face.

I smiled and sat up as quietly as I could. Gently, I put an arm underneath her legs and one behind her back and scooped her up. I placed her under the covers on my bed and then climbed next to her.

Leaning towards her, I kissed her forehead and sighed. "I love you, Alyx." I whispered.

I took in the smell of strawberries from her hair and felt myself grow drowsy. I rolled over so our backs were facing each other. Soon my eyes closed and I drifted off into a peaceful sleep for the first time in a while.

Alyx's pov

When I woke up my forehead was pressed against Tyler's and our arms were tangled around each other. My head felt foggy for a minute, so I looked around and let the memories from the night before piece together. Suddenly, a thought came to my mind and I extracted one of my arms from around Tyler. Lifting up the covers, I peaked underneath and let out a relieved breath. I was fully clothed. Only then did I realize that was a stupid idea it was because I remembered everything I did the night before.

I looked at my watch next, and noticed I didn't have all that much time to get ready and get to school. I sighed.

'Guess I've got to go, then.' I thought.

I looked back over to Tyler, who was still fast asleep. I smiled as he let out a long breath in his sleep. "My Ty," I whispered affectionately. "I love you." I leaned over to him and kissed his temple to wake him up.

His eyes fluttered open for a moment and he let out an unintelligible string of syllables before he closed his eyes again.

"I've got to go," I whispered. "If I don't someone is going to find me in here and that isn't going to go well. I didn't want to leave without telling you."

Tyler nodded, his eyes still closed.

"Are you coming to school today?"

He nodded again.

"Alright." I kissed his forehead. "You're amazing."

I crawled out of the bed and walked to the window. As soon as I opened it a rush of icy air hit my face and I slammed it shut again. There was a layer of snow on the ground. It was much colder in the real world than it was with Tyler. After thinking for a minute I walked over to Tyler's closet and picked out a black hoodie and a white beanie. I pulled them on and move back over to the window. Hopefully I could sneak back into my house with no one noticing.

"Alyx," I looked at Tyler, who had propped himself up on his elbows and opened his eyes. "You look good in my clothes." He gave me a small smile.

My cheeks flushed and I stumbled over words for a second. Then I smirked at him. "I bet you would look better in mine."

He laughed as I crawled out the window.