Just A Chemical || Joshler //

Chapter 6 ~ Passenger

//Josh//

The hard wood of Tyler's apartment door slams just inches from my face. I sink down onto my knees, feeling both Brendon's murmurs of apology and Dallon's hands on my shoulders and Tyler's sadness and Tyler's anger, but why is Tyler angry did I do something wrong all I can feel is you Tyler all I can feel is your sadness and your anger just come back to me, "Tyler that wasn't you who closed that door on me...right? That...was someone else...right, Tyler?"

I didn't realize I was saying my thoughts out loud until I saw Brendon's concerned look out of the corner of my eye. He helped me to my feet, and he wiped the tears from my eyes. "Let's...go to my house. You can sleep there tonight." I realized there was genuine concern in his voice, and no trace of his normal sass. I replied "Ok," and I bent to pick up my luggage - wait. Where's my suitcase? Oh, right. I left it in Tyler's bedroom.

"B-Brendon...?" I looked at him miserably. "Yeah?" he answered. "Um...I-I accidentally l-left my stuff..." I gestured to the door, "In t-there..."

A sudden fury, a sudden fire leapt into Dallon's eyes. "Josh, I don't care if you left your stuff with Tyler, but I am not going to let you be mistreated like that again. Ok? I want to make sure you are safe. No one should ever have- Agh!" Dallon punched the wall hard. I felt the ground beneath me tremble slightly, as my eyes widened. Dallon pulled his hand away, revealing bloody knuckles. He held his injured hand in his other hand, and looked at me more gently. "Just...I can't stand it watching my friends hurt eachother. Do you understand that?" 

I nodded vigorously. I had never seen Dallon like that, he was normally a pretty chill person, but in that moment he morphed into what seemed like an overprotective dad, even though he was only 7 years older than me. 

Brendon put his arm around my shoulder as we walked towards his car. "It's ok, you can borrow some of my spare clothes tonight. Maybe we could watch a movie? Whatever you want to do." Brendon's attempts to console me did nothing to heal my broken heart. 

---

We got in the car, and even though Dallon offered me shotgun, I politely declined and proceeded to curl up in the backseat. "It's about a fifteen minute drive to my house," Brendon said, "so just hold on, Josh. We'll be there in a bit, and then we can talk about what happened, if that's okay with you." I didn't even bother to nod or say ok. Brendon looked at Dallon's injury, and drew in a sharp breath. "I'll bandage that when we get home."

All I could think about was Tyler. His eyes were blank, almost like they were drained of all emotion. I hugged my knees closer to my chest, wrapping my arms tighter around myself. Goddamn it, Tyler, why? Why? What happened to you? Why? What did I do wrong?  I clenched my teeth, every muscle tensed up inside me. I felt like I was about to explode, there was so much I didn't know about what happened, all I saw is Tyler changing, he's not the same anymore - He's not Tyler anymore. What's left of Tyler? Do I even know him anymore?

I tried to recall the events of my time with Tyler. He mentioned something about having to clean up soda, we made a little tent-thing, then...The Bishops. What were they called...? Something like Nick? I think the other one's name was...Kevin? They were uncommon, that I know for sure. My muscles tensed even more, as I thought and theorized what could have happened. Some time passed before I realized I was wearing a crazed smile, and my fingers were no longer around my legs, they were in my hair. 

My smile morphed into a suffering frown as I finally let myself go, letting the tears run down my face, letting my muscles relax. By the time we got to Brendon's house, my hair was a mess, and my head was laying in a puddle of salty tears. Both of the other boys helped me out of the car, and I stumbled hopelessly towards the front door. 

((A/N 723 words oml))