A FRACTURE IN THE CONSCIOUSNESS ✓

TYLER

Tyler was shaking, and he didn't stop shaking until he got as far as he could from Jeremy. It was then when his medicine decided to kick in. With help from Josh, he sat down on a bench outside of the police station, sweating despite the cold chill in the air.

He didn't know where the confidence to even go into the interrogation room; his body went on autopilot up until Jeremy mentioned his partner he was jerked back into consciousness again.

A partner, someone who went undetected in the rehab center. Josh already ruled out other employees, so it had to have been someone for the record. Dallon was digging to see any other connections Jeremy might've had to potential female killers who'd join him in this spree.

While he searched, Tyler had a meltdown.

He didn't think he could take any more of pressure building inside of him. The guilt from murdering those two gangbangers in the alleyway inflated inside his chest like a hot air balloon, leaving no room for air to come in. Tyler shook his head violently, wheezing and twitching.

Josh's hands ran up and down his back and arms, and Tyler focused in on his voice reminding him how to breathe again. Maybe it wasn't the impending schizophrenia he had to worry about, but his nearly debilitating anxiety disorder.

Brendon sat on the concrete in front of them, smoking a cigarette. He looked gleeful, almost proud too, and in that moment Tyler wanted nothing more but to kill him all over again just to wipe that disgusting smile off his face.

"Ty, buddy, you need to breathe," Josh said, a hand on the back of his neck. "It's been almost two minutes, you need to exhale. Stop staring into space, please. You're scaring me.

Tyler nodded his head shakily, tearing his eyes away from Brendon to stair at the rusty green lamppost hanging above them.

"In and out, baby, copy me."

He tried as best as he could to do so, his thumping heart slowly calming down. Even as Tyler started to breathe normally again, he still could feel his heart beating hard when he put his hand over his chest.

"Don't listen to that lowlife and just kill Jeremy's girlfriend already. You know you want to," Brendon said, blowing smoke out through his nose. "You can get the list of potential partners from Dallon and kill them all until you find the right one."

"No," Tyler bit back at the air, shaking his head.

"No what?" Josh asked.

He couldn't meet his fiancé's eyes when the man who forced him to kill two people was speaking inside of his mind. "I- I can hear him. Brendon- He's telling me things, awful things, and I'm scared."

"What are you scared of?"

It wasn't normal for Tyler to be scared. Sure, he was small and scrawny and overly cautious, but even compared to Josh's own impulsive behavior, Tyler was reckless. He would overthink situations and still go into a fight without a plan. Josh, as hotheaded and impatient as he was, held the reigns to Tyler's quick wits and not-thought-through actions.

Was he reckless? Hell yeah.

Had he ever been as scared as he had been when Brendon had taken him, when he started to show up in Tyler's peripheral, when he was telling Tyler to hurt and kill? Hell. No.

But he couldn't tell Josh any of that. Telling him that Brendon and he was telling him to murder people would only end up with Tyler in a psychiatric facility, just like his poor mother. Telling him something anything was better than nothing, though.

"I'm scared that it's just me talking to myself and taking the form of Brendon, trying to convince myself to-"

"Kill," Brendon completed the sentence where Tyler's voice gave out, the putrid word dissolving on his tongue.

Josh ran his hand through Tyler's hair, cupping the back of his neck and pressing their foreheads together. Some of the tension spreading through his muscles lessened, and from the corner of Tyler's eye, Brendon had disappeared. "Babydoll, it's okay. Just tell me what he's saying, and I can help."

Before Tyler can open his mouth, Mark burst through the front doors of the police station, phone in hand. "They just found another body," he said, a pensive expression in his face. "And Jeremy's lawyer is trying to get Jeremy released."

Tyler and Josh looked at each other, and after a moment, they were both back inside, seeing Jeremy's lawyer yelling at the sheriff.

"That interrogation was done illegally. My client had already asked for me, making his so-called confession invalid," she said in a commanding voice, making the officers around flinch.

The sheriff was unwavering in his stance, remaining level with the lawyer. "Actually, he agreed to an interrogation, which means your client just confessed to three murders, if not more."

At that, the lawyer bristled. "More," she said, her tone flat, seemingly not shocked.

"Yes, ma'am, more," Jenna responded coldly. "We have reason to believe he had a partner."

"A partner? You're just trying to pin as many people down as you can, huh?" She taunted her, but Jenna kept her composure.

"I suggest you leave before you embarrass yourself further. Now, if you'll excuse me, we have lives to save."

The lawyer scoffed, and when she caught Tyler staring curiously at her, sent him an animalistic snarl. For a moment, she looked strangely like Jeremy, with his same unwavering confidence and apathy towards the pressing situation.

He narrowed his eyes at her. She returned to gesture and walked off, her gait one of someone not at all concerned for the well-being of her client.

Josh watched the interaction between them before guiding Tyler to the break room to get him coffee for his nerves. "What was that about?" He asked as he put a pot to make.

Tyler shrugged. I'm not sure. What's her connection to Jeremy?"

"From what I gather, she's a family friend." Josh raised an eyebrow. "You don't think-"

"I'm not sure." After the things he'd done, Tyler wasn't sure about anything. "I'm not sure at all."