nymph ⚣ joshler

two

tyler walked slowly through the forest, to the small clearing by the river. it was something out of a movie, honestly. it was a small patch of grass, an almost perfect ring of trees lining it, apart from one that was missing. well, not missing, just not in it's proper place. this particular tree had fallen, and lay across the clearing, acting as a bench for tyler when he sat there.

his little secretive area overlooked the river, just a few feet uphill from it, and it gave a great view to draw inspiration from. sometimes tyler would even walk down to the river itself and just sit. that's what he did mostly when he came into this area of the forest. he would sit. and think. nothing more, nothing less. sometimes his thoughts were darker than other days, but they were mostly neutral.

he thought about his parents a lot. if he would ever meet them, if they would like him, if they were odd like him.

he also thought about love. it was beyond cliché, but he really did. he thought about his adoptive parents, if they loved each other. if his real parens loved each other. he wondered what it felt like. he wondered if he would ever find someone. or more, if someone would ever find him.

he pulled himself out of the cringe-inducing thoughts that were much too sappy for him to stomach and looked back out on the river bank. it seemed quieter today. normally there were birds singing and you could hear the soft trickles of the slow-moving river washing over stones and dirt. not that those same sounds weren't there, they were merely farther away sounding, if that made any sense. it didn't feel like he was right there, surrounded by the sounds and smells, it felt like he was watching from afar.

deciding to clear his mind of the place that normally did just that, tyler stood up from his position on the forest floor and began wandering into the forest, in the direction that he thought was the one of his house.

emphasis on the thought part.

he wasn't completely off; the direction he walked in did eventually lead him to a house. just, not his house.

tyler came to find himself in front of the old cabin that resided deep in the forest, near a small ledge. it was one of the only houses within miles of tyler's secluded abode, so it was definitely not unknown by the joseph household.

the one thing was that tyler never noticed people in that cabin. for years he thought it was just an old run down place no one took the time of day to visit. but only when he found himself perched halfway behind a tree, looking at the parked truck with its lights on did he realize he was wrong.

not only that, but there was a person in the car. a boy, by the looks of it.

tyler could only see the top of his head, which had short brown hair, and that he had a rather large vase(?) in his lap, and clouds of smoke billowing from the open window.

suddenly, the door of the cabin swung open, revealing another boy, this time with longer hair that was cut in the style of a faux hawk; longer on top and shorter on the sides. this boys hair was a soft pink shade, clearly not natural, but it suited the boy nicely.

the pink haired boy called out, presumably to the other one in the car, shouting a name.

"brendon!" he started. the boy in the car jumped and quickly set the glass bong on the seat next to him. "dallon said to 'stop smoking that shit and get in here,'"

with one final cough, the brunette, brendon, made his way out of the car and up the steps, disappearing into the open door and leaving the pink haired boy standing in the doorway.

he stood and looked at the forest around him, for a good thirty seconds, before he started to turn the opposite direction towards the door.

just when he was about to vanish into the cabin, tyler felt a tingling sensation in his sinuses and instantly began to scramble to try and stop the impending situation before he got caught by the unknown people.

he gave up and covered his face with the sleeve of his pullover just as a soft sneeze rung out, quiet but still enough to disturb the tranquil silence of the forest.

the pink haired boy quickly snapped his head in the direction of the small sound. tyler kept his sleeve over his mouth as he froze in place, slowly looking up from his previous view of the forest floor only to make eye contact with the boy. this was the second time an ethereal being had caught tyler staring. how embarrassing was this?

they stood there for however many seconds until tyler snapped out of his frozen-like state. he backed away a few steps so he was more covered by a nearby tree, breaking eye contact with the boy to look at his form to see if he was threatening before timidly initiating eye contact once more. it was an old habit he had always done since he was old enough to walk and speak; he would look at people's stances to decipher their emotions, almost how a prey animal may look upon a possible predator in the wilderness.

their little stare off lasted a few more seconds until the boy opened his mouth as though to speak, and it was then that tyler turned the opposite direction and started running.

he bolted from the edge of the clearing leading up to the cabin and tried to navigate through the tall trees. you would think after living practically his entire life in these woods that he would know his way around, but they seemed to constantly be changing around him.

it wasn't until tyler heard a loud "wait!" that he turned his head behind him, while he was still running.

being the clumsy boy that he is, tyler managed to trip on one of the many tree roots sticking out from the ground, tumbling face first into the dirt.

he sat up and brushed the dirt off his pale clothes and skin, momentarily forgetting about the pink haired boy who, without tyler's knowledge, was confusedly making his way in his direction.

when the boy on the ground heard footsteps approaching him, he stood up quickly, dropping his arm he had been wiping off and backing away from the other like a spooked animal. come to think of it, he wasn't too far off from that.

"hey, who are you?"

tyler felt warmth seeping onto his fingers from where his hand lay across his elbow again, looking down to see the crimson liquid through blurry vision as he tried to hold back tears from the pain in his arm. he looked up at the taller boy, who must have seen the single shimmering drop slowly sliding down tyler's cheek, for his face softened slightly as he looked upon the smaller of the two.

"i, uh, i'm sorry," the pink haired boy trailed off as he scratched the back of his neck. he looked at tyler's glistening face once more, eyes trailing down to his arm he held close to him as he avoided eye contact.

"a-are you okay?" he motioned to the smaller boys arm, making him flinch away from his hand. "oh,  i'm sorry."

tyler stood in place for a small moment before sprinting away from the stranger without a word, this time not stopping when be heard the boy call after him once more.

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