Southern Gothic // Joshler

17. Home

Josh was shaking as he pulled onto the highway. They had both sat in the car, silently, for the better part of an hour before Tyler had finally convinced him to keep driving. Josh's grandparents were, at most, an hour and a half away near the city of Columbus. He'd have to find his way there.

First, they needed to find a place to stay for the night. After that, find somewhere that sold a burner cell phone so he could call his grandparents.

The radio kicked in after a few minutes on the highway, Josh yelling in delight when a song finally began to play.

"This, Tyler," he began, turning up the radio so Tyler could barely hear him, "This is Jane's Addiction."

Tyler listened as Josh drummed along to the beat, belting out lyrics.

He was listening quietly, a smile forming on his face as they sat there. Josh was finally behaving like himself.

"The first thing I'm doing is dying my hair green." Josh commented, finally turning down the radio to a reasonable level. "You wanna help?"

"Sure," Tyler laughed out, pointing to a sign. "Hotel- this exit?"

Josh nodded, pulling off onto the shoulder and taking the exit. They were driving in silence for another minute before they found the old hotel to the left. It was dingy, old. It was perfect.

"Let's go." Josh turned off the car, wiping the dried blood off his face to the best of his ability. He unbuckled his seatbelt, along with Tyler, before they both stepped out and headed inside. Walking was something that was so relieving to Tyler that he thought he might have never done it again.

"We'd like a room please," Josh started as they headed inside. The clerk stared at them, and Tyler wondered whether or not it was because of the black blood smeared all over both of them.

"Just one night?" He asked from behind the counter, pulling out a key from the drawers. "Uh... that's seventy five, please."

Josh pulled out his wallet, fishing through and pulling out a hundred dollar bill before dropping it on the counter. "Keep the change."

"You're in room seventeen, down the hall and to your left." The clerk responded, warily eyeing them as they headed down the hall. The duo found the room relatively quickly, Josh unlocking the door as they both headed inside.

"This is a hotel?" Tyler asked incredulously, looking around as he sat down on one of the beds. "It's kind of... underwhelming."

Josh laughed as he threw himself down next to Tyler, his entire body screaming in relief. "Welcome to hotels, Tyler. There's so much you have to learn."

Tyler laid on his back, staring over at Josh. "We survived."

Grinning from ear to ear, Josh responded, "You're goddamned right we did, babyboy."

Tyler's ears heated up and he looked away from Josh, embarrassed. He didn't have to be ashamed anymore. They were free here.

"Let's go shower, yeah?" Josh asked, standing back up after a few minutes and pulling Tyler up with him. "I've got three hundred dollars left, enough for dinner, a burner phone, and gas to my grandparents."

"That's where we're going?" Tyler asked, wobbling to his feet as he stared at Josh.

"Yeah, they're in Columbus." He nodded as they headed to the bathroom, and Josh turned the light on when they entered. "You'll really love it there. They're great people-" He cut off to turn to Tyler, who was staring at him blankly. "What?"

"I never knew my grandparents," Tyler admitted sheepishly as he pulled off his shirt, looking down at the scar on his arm sadly. "I think they lived outside the town."