Rough Patch

22

Tyler Joseph

I woke up downstairs in my studio and all I could hear was crying and screaming from Ellie. I looked around the studio and saw all of my papers of lyrics scattered about and then quickly went upstairs to see what all the fuss was about. When I enter the kitchen I see Jenna standing there with her hands on her hips leaning against the fridge as Ellie was rolling on the floor having a tantrum. Ellie's face was red and she was crying and screaming.

"Hey! What's going on?" I yell over Ellie's loud screams. Jenna looks at me and she looks so frustrated.

"Ellie will not listen. I told her she can't have ice cream for breakfast and right when I walk away she tries to go get some. I told her to stop and she just decided to continue and now I told her she can't go to her friends house because of the way shes acting and now this happened." Jenna sighed. I looked down at Ellie who is basically making herself hyperventilate over ice cream. 

"Ellie. Stand up." I say calmly but sternly. Ellie looks up at me.

"NO!" She screams. She never acts like this ever in her life. 

"Ellie. You stand up right now." I said much more sternly. 

"You can't tell me what to do!" 

"Yes I can. You're 6  and I am much older and I am your dad. Now, stand up." 

"I want ice cream!" 

"We went over this Ellie. It's 8 in the morning. This is way to early for ice cream." Jenna groans. I lean down and grab Ellie. She begins to kick and scream at me. I walk upstairs to her bedroom and lay her down on her bed. 

"Let me go!" Ellie says as she sits up and tries to leave her room.

"No. You are in time out. You have to sit here for 6 minutes because you are 6 years old. Think about what you did wrong and when I come back you better have a good apology." I explain. Ellie stopped crying and sat there with puffy red eyes from the crying. I walk out of her room and shut her door. I sit on the floor outside her room and wait. Jenna comes up and sits next to me. 

"Somethings not right with her lately." Jenna says as she slowly lowers herself next to me on the floor. 

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"Shes been having these outbursts lately. I googled it and it says that kids her age can act out if they aren't feeling well but she doesn't complain of being  sick."

"Maybe we should just take her to the doctor so they can do a check up and see if she is sick in any way." 

"I was thinking about doing that. It might be a smart idea because I seriously don't know whats wrong with her." 

"I dont know either. Im going to go in and check on her. Her 6 minutes are up." I sigh. I stand up and walk into the bedroom. I see Ellie lying on her bed hugging a stuffed animal bear which has a tee shirt that used to be Josh's. My mind instantly goes back to when I remember him wearing this red and black tee shirt and feel tears in my eyes for the first time in a while. Ellie was sleeping and holding a bear that was wearing a shirt of josh's. How did she even get that shirt? I feel Jenna put her hand on my shoulder.

"She's so adorable when shes calm and asleep." Jenna smiles. I look at her and she notices that I have tears in my eyes. "What's wrong, Ty?" 

"That shirt on that bear. It's---" I start but Jenna already knew. She grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the room. 

"It's okay. It's okay to show emotion, don't worry." Jenna says calmly. "Why don't you go down to your studio and write. It'll help."  I nod and give Jenna a hug. I slowly walk down the stairs and to my studio where I could be alone with my thoughts. 

When I get downstairs I pace around my studio and take a few deep breaths. I take a seat down at my piano and begin to play a melody. I then grab my notebook and start writing down all my thoughts and surprisingly this was the fastest song I was able to write, and I loved it. I sit back in my chair and stared at my scribbled down lyrics. I needed to record this right away. I walk into my recording booth and press the record button and get going. I start playing the keyboard and record that part first. It took me about an hour and a half to perfect that part but once I got it to be the way I wanted it to be it wasn't too difficult to add in the lyrics and sing my heart out. 

When I complete the recording it ended up taking me three hours long to finish it up. When I was finished I was so proud and had to show Jenna right away. I called her down and she came down immediately. 

"What's up? Are you doing okay?" Jenna asked when she entered the studio. 

"I'm doing great. I wanted to show you this  song I just finished recording. It's one of the fastest songs I ever thought up and I really think its good. I want to hear your opinion." I explain. 

"Of course! Go ahead and play it!" Jenna exclaimed super excited. She takes a seat on the couch in the studio and I sit on the chair and press play on the recording and I hear the beginning of my piano melody seep through the speakers and my singing begins. 

When the song is over Jenna has tears in her eyes. 

"What do you think?" I ask Jenna. 

"That was beautiful. Tyler, that's the one. That's your comeback song." Jenna stands up and wraps me into a hug. 

"You really think so?"

"Oh I know so. You need to try to set up a time with management and get that song out there. This is the song." 

"Okay. This is moving so fast but I know it's what I need to do." 

"You can do this Tyler. This is what you've been waiting for. I believe in you."