Anathema

thirty six - the run and go

"Run away with me," Josh said, grasping Tyler's hand.

Tyler looked up from his desk and blinked in surprise. "What?"

"Run away with me," Josh repeated. "Please. You said your mom won't let you out of here and that you couldn't stand it anymore. So run away with me."

"I..." Tyler looked around the room nervously, purposefully avoiding looking at Clancy and Nico. "I don't know. How...how are we going to survive? Where are we going to go?"

"We'll take the bus somewhere far away and figure it out from there." Josh's eyes were pleading. "Please, Tyler, I can't go alone. You wouldn't have to fight your parents. You would have a chance to start over and make new friends who don't think you're weird. Just...I just can't do this alone."

"You can't do this, Tyler," Clancy said.

"Why not?" Nico said. "Then he can do whatever he want. His parents won't be there to hold him back."

"They're not holding him back, Nico. They're watching out for him. They're the only people who truly care."

"They lie to him just as much as he lies to you."

"At least -"

"Stop it," Tyler muttered.

Josh recoiled slightly. "What?"

"Not you," Tyler said quickly, realizing his mistake. "Um...just...my thoughts. They're...scaring me again."

Josh didn't respond. He just sat down on Tyler's bed and stared at the floor, bouncing his knee.

I can't do this alone.

Tyler knew how it felt to be alone. It was the worst feeling in the world. How could he leave Josh when he needed him the most? He had already abandoned him once before, when he'd lost hope in ever talking to him again. He couldn't do that again. He couldn't live with himself knowing that he'd left Josh alone out there with no one but his demons to keep him company.

"When do we leave?" he said.

Josh looked up in surprise, as if he hadn't expected him to actually agree. "As soon as we can," he said, a relieved smile crossing his face. "Dad's working right now, so I'll sneak back to the house, grab my stuff and any spare cash I can find, and meet you back here."

"My mom's going to some appointment for school in an hour," Tyler said. "You can run home and get your stuff, and when she's gone, we can get the rest from here."

Josh considered it. "That might be safer. But don't call that place home. It's not my home, and I'm never going back."

...

"Grab whatever snacks you can find out of the pantry," Tyler said, digging through the medicine cabinet for his migraine pills. As an after thought, he grabbed the box of bandaids and the tube of Neosporin as well.

"You guys have a lot of snack food," Josh commented, dumping bags of chips and cookies onto the table.

"The other kids take them in their lunches." Tyler opened the fridge and grabbed as many energy drinks as he could carry. Zack had been taking them home from his friends' houses, and Tyler was suddenly grateful. "I'm grabbing some fruit, too, you know, to stay healthy-ish."

"Healthy-ish." Josh laughed a little. "Good idea."

Tyler joined him at the table and helped him pack the food into their backpacks. He also had a few water bottles and an extra shirt and pair of socks, as well as his notebook and a few pencils. Josh had all the money - as it turned out, his father had had a decent amount of cash and change hanging around.