Sacrificial //joshler

three

josh drives in silence the entire way home, still trying to make sense of the night's events.

how did the bar even catch on fire in the first place? why would tyler go with the band in their creepy rape van? how could josh let him? he was clearly not in the right state of mind, but josh just stood there like an idiot and let brendon take his best friend.

he tries to call tyler three times once he's parked safely in his driveway, but they all go straight to voicemail. frantically, josh sends him several texts asking where he is and if he's okay. he begs for tyler to at least let him know he's safe. he paces back and forth outside for a while, hoping the frigid air will calm his nerves. when he still hasn't gotten a response five minutes later, he heads inside.

he's home alone, thankfully, otherwise his mom would be freaking out with him and only making matters worse. he texts tyler again, unable to calm down as he walks in circles around his kitchen island. the guilt won't go away, and it's getting harder to fight back tears, so he decides to call mikey.

he picks up on the second ring. "hey, josh."

"mikey," he breathes, shakily. "oh my god..."

"josh? what's wrong? frank, it's josh. are you okay?"

frank's voice is faint. "what's going on?"

"i-it's tyler... uh, the um, the bar. it caught on fire. fucking flames everywhere, dude. i-i saw so many fucking people burning alive. so many people died. the smell... oh my god."

"what? are you fucking serious? are you okay?"

"do you want us to come over?"

josh ignores their questions. "the band... they took tyler. he was in shock. he didn't, fuck, he wasn't all there. i let them take him."

"wait what?"

"i'm sure he's fine," frank says. "it's tyler. he probably just wanted to get laid."

"no," josh furrows his brows, heading up to his room and finally sitting down. he places his head in his hands, his friends' voices ringing out through the phone's speaker.

"should we come over? or i can pick you up?" mikey offers.

"no," josh repeats. "you guys, i... we fucking watched people die. get fucking trampled a-and burned alive and... holy shit. i'm so worried about tyler. those guys in the band, they were fucking disgusting. like, i heard them saying nasty things about tyler. and he's not answering my texts."

"probably because he's getting laid," frank says again.

josh groans, growing angry. "you don't get it, do you? i know something bad is going to happen to him. i-i have to do something. we have to go find him."

"how the fuck are we going to find him?"

"fuck!" josh yells. "i don't know. i shouldn't have let him go."

"it's not your fault, josh," mikey says softly.

"yeah, i'm sure tyler is fine. really. he can handle himself."

the doorbell sounds suddenly, causing josh to jump. "what the fuck? somebody is here."

"who would be there this late at night?"

"cops maybe?"

"i don't know. i'm home alone. i'm fucking freaking out."

josh slowly makes his way downstairs towards the front door, cautiously peeking out the window. he doesn't see anything, so he opens the door and steps onto the porch. there's nobody in sight.