A FRACTURE IN THE CONSCIOUSNESS ✓

TYLER

{trigger warning: nightmares, blood}

For an hour after Dallon left, Tyler stayed on the ground in front of the door, his body shaking with sobs. It got even worse when the started to hear the sirens from far away, getting closer and closer with each heartbeat.

"They're coming," he gasped, pulling his legs tighter into his chest. "They're coming for me."

"No, they're not," Brendon said.

"I'm gonna go to jail. I can't go, I can't."

"You won't. There's no evidence. It looked like those two idiots killed each other."

Tyler rubbed his eyes, the low whirling of a drilling coming from behind the door. "I'm going crazy."

"Maybe you need to kill again to stop the noises. It worked with those two idiot thugs, we both know that." Brendon crouched in front of him, extending a hand. "Dallon is a witness. He saw the blood and he's sure to connect the dots between you and the murders. You need to take him out."

"No! I won't kill him or anyone else. He's- he's my friend," Tyler snapped. He closed his eyes and stood up, feeling whatever was left of his tears running down his cheeks.

"Did you just acknowledge me?"

This time, Tyler didn't respond, only bending down to pick up and the the bag from his trash can. He set it on the floor and grabbed a rag from under his kitchen sink, wetting it and wiping down anything that had evidence of blood.

His phone rang when he was ringing the rag out in his sink. Tyler hesitated for a moment, terrified of who it could be, but relaxed when Josh's name appeared on his cracked screen.

"Hey, he said as he picked it up, tucking it between his ear and his shoulder.

"Hey. It's great to hear from you," Josh replied, his voice tired and heavy.

"You too." He needed the distraction. "Did you catch that woman?"

"Sarah managed to talk her down from killing her rapist, but she's going to get lots of jail time. I feel bad for her, though. It feels like she didn't have a choice in what she became. She was abused and ridiculed and denied for who she was, and she ends up like this."

Tyler let the rag drop onto the counter, grabbing a mop bucket and setting it under the faucet. "Not everyone who's abused ends up like her."

"Yeah, I know. Some end up like you." Josh sighed, making Brendon scoff. "Perfect in every way. I miss you, Ty."

"I miss you too, J. When do you fly back?"

"Tomorrow morning around eight. We should be home by noon. Will you okay until then?"

"I think I can manage," Tyler joked. He wasn't so sure he could. He already killed two people.

Brendon cooed from somewhere behind him. "Aw, look at how much he loves you. Too bad you're a murderer now."

"I have my therapy appointment at eleven, so I won't be able to see you when you land."

"That's okay, as long as I get to see you after."

Tyler frowned but didn't let it show in his voice. "I'll call you later. I'm going to take a nap."

"Alright. Talk to you later, I love you."

"Love you too."

Josh hung up, and Tyler pulled the overflowing mop bucket out of the sink. He proceeded to mop the floor, wipe down everything he touched since he arrived, and scrubbed his clothes. Eventually, it became evident that the blood wouldn't come out, and Tyler threw them in a second garbage bag, throwing that one and the one from his small trash can in the dumpster behind his building.

"Getting rid of evidence. I'm pretty sure that's a felony," Brendon said, leaning against a brick wall as Tyler hobbled back up the stairs.

Surprisingly, he made it all the way to his apartment before collapsing on the couch, passing out. Tyler dreamt for the first since he left the hospital.

He was back in that alley, on his knees, with blood dripping between his fingers. Instead of the two thugs who tried to rob him lying on the concrete ground, the bodies of his team were strewn around, bloody and torn apart as if by an animal.

A smile stretched across his face, and Tyler licked his hand from wrist to the tip of his middle finger. The blood tasted sweet but metallic. Sirens whined in the background, getting closer and closer. Josh, who was lying on his back, opened his eyes.

Tyler jerked up, having fallen on the carpet of his living room in his sleep. He screamed at the taste of blood in his mouth, startling Ned who was lying on floor beside him.

"What the hell is going on," he gasped, rubbing his face only the smear blood all over it.

Bloody nose. Figured.

"Feel crazy yet?" Brendon's voice came from somewhere in front of him, although he didn't appear. "That's what you get for killing those two thugs yesterday."

"You wanted me to do that," Tyler said.

"Oh? We're on speaking terms now?"

Tyler rolled his eyes and stood. "Just because I'm acknowledging you doesn't mean you're real. This is all in my head."

"That doesn't mean it isn't real. I'm a part of you now, so that means I am real, that it's not just in your head, that you're just afraid of me."

"I am not afraid of you."

"Mhm." Brendon appeared beside him, draping an arm over Tyler's shoulders. Tyler could feel the weight of his arm, making him tense up. "Just like you're not afraid of being caught for the murders, even though it made you feel better. Even though it helped you remember."

Tyler hated to admit it, but Brendon was right. He forgot Josh's birthday of all things and right after killing those two men, he remembered the exact day. His memory was clearer, sharper, like the cracked lens of a camera being replaced.

"So what if it helped? It won't happen again," Tyler snapped. "I won't kill anyone else. I can't handle it."

Brendon chuckled low, his grip on Tyler's shoulders tightening. If Brendon wasn't real, how could he feel him so well?

"We both know that you won't have a choice."