Burdens and Bulwarks (Tyler Joseph Fanfiction)

Chapter Fourteen

The snow is piling up outside, Tyler says it's the most snow he's seen in awhile. He called his parents and they said he should stay here until it clears up.

"Where do you think your mom is?" Tyler asks, extended out across my bed.

I look up at him as I turn on my laptop that I dug up from one of the many boxes that I still have left to unpack.

I smile at Tyler to cover up my worry and shrug, "not sure."

"Did she say where she was going and when she'd be back?" Tyler plays with the same piece of his hair that he usually plays with when he's listening to someone or thinking really hard.

"Nope." My smile is anger driven now as I stand up, "she just told me she didn't have the time to wash the dirty dishes or the dirty laundry and that she needed me to take care of everything for her. Oh and it was none of my business anyway as to where she was going."

I kneel down to look through the rest of the box that I need to clear out. Tyler sits at the edge of my bed, staring at me.

"Do you know where she went when she went on hiatus with you before the party?" Tyler asks, looking at me apologetically.

"I have not even the slightest clue." I mutter.

"Do you need help with unpacking?" He changes the subject, trying his hardest to steer away from awkward silences.

"If you would like to help me, you can." I smile, taking out some books from the box and placing them on the ground so I can filter through them.

Tyler stands up, "where are the other boxes?"

"In my mom's closet, my boxes are the ones with my name on it." I point toward my mom's room.

Tyler nods his head and then walks out, humming a song that I don't know the name of, but it sounded nice.

Tyler comes back with two boxes stacked on top of each other and he sets them on the floor next to me. He gets on his knees and opens up one of the boxes.

"What are these?" Tyler asks, taking out some notebooks.

"Those are journals." I state hesitantly, I have two other boxes filled with them, the ones he is looking at are only a few.

Tyler places them back in the box, leaving them unread. I think it's because he knows I'll let him read them when I'm ready.

"Where The Wild Things Are." Tyler reads out, waving a book in the air.

I smile and admire it for a moment, "I've been looking for that." I take it from him and stare at it in my hand, rubbing over the cover softly with my hands. Looks like he found my keepsakes box.

"You're so small!" Tyler squeals, holding up a picture. I look up and smile at the little girl inside of the picture, about six. "Is that your dad?" Tyler points at the man standing next to me.

My face drops and I nod my head slightly. The picture is of me in the middle of my mom and dad, we're all smiling.

"What happened? With your dad- If you don't mind me asking." Tyler's voice is soft and I know he didn't mean to sound urgent, but I can't help but feel bad for not wanting to tell him.

I clear my throat, "it's complicated."

"I don't mind complicated." He scoots right next to me and sits with his legs extended as he looks down at the picture.

"I remember that day... I can't remember a lot of days spent with my dad because I've spent all of these years trying to block most of them out. But that one, I do." I start, trying to avoid talking about what Tyler wanted to talk about.