Empathy [Josh Dun - Twenty One Pilots]

EIGHTEEN

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

Debby's voice was low and hesitating, and Josh secretly beamed inside. They were walking towards the abandoned construction field where he used to hang out with his friends back in the days, to put the finishing touches to Tyler's plan, which seemed to work out better than expected. Josh knew he would have to endure much worse than Debby laughing with Ethan, even for just a little while, but Debby had volunteered, and they all knew it could be for the best. 

"I'm sure," Tyler said with confidence, "I can feel it. Now, Debby, please tell me again what you heard exactly?"

"I've told you at least a thousand times, Tyler," she sighed, out-of-breath because they were now almost running towards the place they had chosen for the grand finale. Josh was having a hard time keeping up, but he followed silently, the sand and dust now getting the best of his shoes. 

"I know, but I need to hear them again. The exact words, Debby. Not what you think you remember, ok? If you're not sure, don't tell me."

Josh looked up only to see Debby nodding understandingly, and suddenly the whole situation became surreal to him. Were they really doing this? Were they really about to confront Josh's ex-best-friend about some kind of kidnapping story they weren't totally sure existed in the first place? Could Tyler really extort the truth out of Ethan's mouth just by entering his mind? And was Josh really capable of nearly the same with his highly unconceivable skills? Or was this just a very long and deeply realistic dream?

"... so he picked up the phone and started a casual conversation with a guy named Johnny, and I know for a fact that Johnny is his cousin because our families used to hang out when we were kids and Johnny was there all the time and there was this one tim-"

"Keep it short, Deb," Tyler interrupted, and Josh, behind the two of them, couldn't help but chuckle. He had never seen Tyler so deeply focused, almost like a life depended on what they were about to do. Overall, he seemed very nervous, and his hands kept twitching or running towards his hair to fiddle with a strand. Maybe that was because he knew a life actually depended on it, and Josh's whole body froze at the thought. He shook his head. He couldn't think about that, not right now. "So, Johnny is Ethan's cousin. What next?"

"I couldn't hear what Johnny said because duh," Debby raised her hand to her ear, mimicking a phone call. "But Ethan turned kinda nervous suddenly, and he started whispering. Not enough though, because I could still hear him talking. At first he said something like 'What? So soon? Are you sure?' then silence, then 'What about him? Do you think he will?' and silence again and then 'Good, because I'm not going back to Cincinnati' and he hung up. After that, he was pretty tense and he drove me home."

Debby's voice dropped and left an awkward silence between the three friends as they were finally reaching the spot. Tyler looked around, making sure no one had followed them and they were alone, then lowered his gaze to his feet, hands in his pockets, deep in thoughts. The sun was slowly setting, and the wind was making Debby's hair flow like a trail of fire, and Josh closed his eyes. Now wasn't a good time to see her like that. 

"Were you even listening to me?" Debby finally asked to break the silence, directly addressing Tyler's lack of reponse.

"Of course I was. I always listen," the boy answered, not even looking up. And suddenly Josh felt sad, besides feeling anxious and uncomfortable. He felt sad, because he knew just how true Tyler's last sentence was, and how heavy his power weighed on his shoulders. Of course, he was always listening. He didn't have a choice, because the voices were in his head. And not just a few of them. Josh was already having difficulties dealing with his own skills, he couldn't even imagine having to grow up with that kind of "Gift", having to construct his own identity all the while drowning in the thoughts of a thousand other people.