God, It Could Power the Sun

Had To Be

TRIGGER WARNINGS: SELF HARM, AMBULANCE / HOSPITAL MENTIONS, MENTIONS OF BLOOD

Josh woke up to see Tyler above him, hands on his shoulders. He assumed his friend had been shaking him awake, only stopping when he was visibly conscious. He opened one eye, closing the other one tightly. "Mmhn..." he mumbled, still half asleep, and rolled over onto his side.

"You gotta get up Josh, we have things to do!" Tyler whined, but to no avail.

"Like what?" Josh mumbled. He rubbed his eyes tiredly; he was not a morning person.

"Like going to the treehouse!" he exclaimed, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Josh nodded sleepily and sat up. "Uh-huh, yeah. Okay."

"It's okay, just get dressed or whatever. Breakfast's ready."

"Alright." Josh rubbed his eyes again and struggled to stand up to take his jeans into the bathroom, and change as he had last night.

Once he did get changed, he went down to the bottom of the steps. He felt Tyler brush by him. Josh followed him to the table, but stopped when he saw a small pink sticky note on the fridge that said,

Went out for groceries!!
                          xox Mom

He went back over to the table and sat down next to Tyler, who wore a black floral button up. "Ty, there's a sticky note. Your mom's out getting stuff."

"I saw it," he replied, cutting up his pancakes.

"Oh, alright." Josh hadn't seen Tyler go over by the note. Must've been before he came downstairs.

"We were running low on milk," he added, "I'm glad she finally went out to get some." He chewed the pancakes thoughtfully.

Josh nodded and chewed his as well.

When they were finished, Tyler got up to use the bathroom, leaving Josh alone with his subconscious thoughts for a few minutes.

But when Tyler came back, he didn't look the same.

Josh looked up at him, slightly concerned. He looked...stoned, or something. Red puffy eyes, and a dazed look on his face.

"Ty, are you okay?" Josh asked. Tyler looked over at him and grinned. This, understandably, gave Josh a very unsettled feeling deep in his gut.

"I would like you to meet my friend, Blurryface," Tyler said cheerily, gesturing to an empty space next to him.

"Uh, Ty..."

Suddenly, only for a split second, a dark figure appeared. Josh didn't know what It was, and he wasn't sure he wanted to, but It looked horrifyingly familiar.

"Did you see It? Did you see my friend?" Tyler asked, seemingly excited.

Josh nodded slowly. "...yeah."

"Good! Fun fact: I hate It. But It's my friend anyway."

"Why...why are you friends with...It, if you hate It?" Josh queried, still staring at the spot he saw Blurryface only seconds before.

"It forces me to It's friend. It's lonely," Tyler explained sadly, looking over to the spot Josh had been staring at.

"Oh." Josh was terrified. Not only of Blurryface, but of Tyler—of himself. Was he going crazy? Insane? Was Tyler?