Øverturning the lies (a twenty one pilots fanfiction)

~Tyler~

He has no idea what's happening around him.

He just feels so...empty.

Or...

Like he's drowning.

The other two don't seem to notice.

They've been talking about something in hushed tones for a while now.

He hasn't tried to say anything.

He's too afraid to speak.

He doesn't even know why.

But as time goes by and the monotony of walking takes a toll on his mind, something changes.

He can barely stand on his shaky legs, and then, he stops completely.

It takes a full minute for Josh and Jenna to notice.

"Is something wrong?" Jenna asks.

Of course something's wrong, he thinks, Something's always wrong.

But one thing in particular may as well have just slapped him in the face because of the reaction it produces.

Tyler forces himself to meet her eyes.

"I guess," he mumbles. "But-really, it's nothing."

He finds himself not wanting to tell them anything.

Like he's already a burden they have to carry around.

"Are you-"

"Yes, I'm sure," he says sharply.

And then something-

Something about the landscape and the place he is now and where he used to be and his feelings and-

It all just comes together and hits him so hard, and then he finds himself on the ground, crying too hard to stop.

Thoughts surface in his mind-

And he notices the sharp rock just little ways away from him.

He picks it up and throws it, far, far away.

It clatters to the ground and he feels a strange sense...

Of disappointment?

Distantly he's aware of Josh saying, "We've gone far enough today."

His friend-fren-sits down beside him, but he feels farther away then ever.

"This is a step in the right direction," he says, "They were poisoning your mind."

"Were they now?" Tyler asks suddenly, surprising himself. "And if they were, then they were poisoning everyone else's minds, too. Everyone else you let stay in that place, where they might very well die-"

"I didn't let them stay-"

"You went out of your way to come back for me," Tyler says, angry all of a sudden, "But what about those people who didn't have anyone left missing them?"

"There wasn't time-"

"But there was time to save this sad excuse of a life?"

"Don't talk like that," Josh says suddenly, "Please-"

"Did it occur to you that maybe I didn't want to be 'rescued?'"

He has no idea where these words are coming from, no idea how to shut them off.

"You don't mean it-"

"Maybe I do!"

A moment passes.