phantoms / joshler

4

the next morning was eventful, but not in the way tyler had been hoping for. he was awoken at around 4 am to a loud banging noise coming from downstairs, and he raced downstairs, baseball bat in hand. the only thing he found was every single cupboard door blown open in the kitchen all at once. the room was frigid, and there was no sign of anyone in the house.

tyler could've sworn he heard giggling coming from behind him when he was closing the doors back up. it sounded exactly like josh. there was no mistaking his sound.

his suspicions were confirmed when he whipped around to see josh standing there. tyler jumped about a foot into the air, dropping the bat, letting out a loud 'fuck!' and backing against the countertops. 

"josh?" tyler finally spoke, rubbing his eyes and opening them again. josh was turning, leaving, into the hallway, and tyler ran after him desperately, following him up the steps and into the music room. 

tyler flipped the light on and he was no longer there.

"josh!" tyler yelled out, frantically, turning around to look into the hallway. it was empty, gloomy. the light from the chandelier in the hallway was flickering. the cold air had followed him despite the house temperature being set to 69 degrees. tyler was shivering and he wrapped his arms around himself. 

he turned around to turn the light off and the laptop sitting on his desk was booting up. annoyed, tyler headed over and slammed it shut. if he really was being haunted, then josh would have to let him sleep for another few hours.

he clambered back to bed, flicked the light off, and screwed his eyes shut. 

-

it was late morning when tyler finally woke up. haunted by nightmares, it was a disturbed sleep, and he was glad to finally be awake. tyler found himself sitting up in his bed and staring at the photo of him and josh he had resting on his nightstand.

"miss you." tyler said aloud, giving the photo a small smile, thinking of the early morning's escapade. he wondered if josh really was there with him as he stood up.

tyler spun around to face the door and was in fact correct when he saw josh standing in the doorway again. he was watching tyler intently, a look devoid of emotion on his face, in his usual outfit of a snapback, ripped jeans, and a hoodie. the nose ring on his left nostril glinted in the minimum amount of light coming in through the windows.

"josh?" tyler said quietly, not daring to blink, as he approached him. josh was watching him, a sad smile on his face, not moving. tyler's feet were cold against the wooden floor as he padded over to him and stood directly across from him.

josh was still staring, not saying anything.

tyler blinked, and he was still there. the air around him was significantly colder than the rest of the room. but josh looked real, which is what was throwing tyler off so badly.

josh took a step backwards and behind the doorframe and was gone when tyler poked his head out to look for him.

anxiously, tyler grabbed a sweatshirt off of his bed and headed over to the music room. the sconces on the walls were illuminating the hallways in a dreadful tone of light, dark and shadowy. the rich maroon colors of the velvet taffeta curtains were letting minimal amounts of light in through the windows. it was snowing outside, tyler noticed, and he hoped to himself that jenna would still be able to come over that afternoon.

the music room was quiet other than tylers breathing, and the whirring of his laptop's fan. he was still staring at the screen trying to figure out what to write, and only a few stray lines were coming to him here and there. they weren't enough to be a song, though, and he knew the label was going to get mad at him for not being able to produce anything.