Guardian Angel ..::joshler:.:.

Episode 3: Heathens

"Okay, Tyler, your best bet is to plead guilty and hope the judge doesn't add to your sentence. Got it?"

"I understand."

--

"Mr. Willows, how does the defendant plead?"

"He plea--"

"I plead not guilty, Your Honor."

--

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!? You pled not guilty, and now they're going to prove that you did it and you're going to have a longer sentence!?!?!"

"Okay."

"Okay?!?! How can you be okay with that!?!?"

"I dunno, maybe I'll like prison."

(two months later)

After all the hearings and all the testimonies and all the deciding, Tyler was finally being put in prison. He got what he wanted.

I was mad at Tyler for so long, but now, I just feel.......well, numb. I don't know how to describe it. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do with Tyler. I know I probably have years of misery ahead of me, just trying to protect Tyler from getting killed everyday.

I shouldn't even be here. Tyler did terrible things, he doesn't deserve a guardian angel. But, here I am. I can't help it. I've been with Tyler for so long. Maybe I'll stick around, I just won't protect him from the little things. It's the least I can do.

•

Tyler and I were on a plane, being transported to the prison. There were two large, scary-looking guards keeping an eye on Tyler, but he wasn't intimidated. He was just listening to a song playing in his head, and had the widest smile on his face. It made the guards think that he was happy to go to prison or something.

If only they knew.

•

We finally arrived at the prison, and the two guards escorted him out of the plane and into the prison.

They walked him in the the processing area, where some papers were signed, and Tyler was just standing there with a stupid grin on his face.

As Tyler was being walked to his cell, the other inmates were howling and yelling threats at Tyler because he's fresh meat. He felt a little scared at first, but a sense of calmness washed over him when a song he wrote started to play in his head.

The soft start to the song made Tyler smile on the inside. He didn't actually smile, though, because he has to keep up that dead-inside badass reputation.

It was little weird to hear his own voice in his head, but he happily listened to all parts of the song.

Wait for them to ask you who you know. Please don't make any sudden moves...

Tyler arrived at his cell, and the guards took his handcuffs off before he stepped in. At that second, Tyler had one of those, "screw it," moments, and he decided to sing along to the song.

All my friends are heathens, take it slow. Wait for them to ask you who you know. Please don't make any sudden moves. You don't know the half of the abuse...

Of course, his singing earned a large commotion from the other inmates. All of them said something along the lines of, "stop your stupid bitch ass singing before I come over there and slap you into another dimension." Tyler wasn't scared, so he just kept singing.

...doesn't mean our brains will change from hand grenades. You'll never know the psychopath sitting next to you. You'll never know the murderer sitting next to you. You'll think, "how'd I get here sitting next to you?" But after all I've said, please don't for--

Tyler was interrupted by a guard banging his baton on the bars of his cell, telling him to, "shut the fuck up," as he eloquently put it.

Then, something strange happened. Tyler became oblivious to everything, like nothing else was there, and he was staring at me, but he shouldn't be able to see me.

I decided to test my theory and started to walk away. Tyler began to follow, and opened his cell door even though it was supposed to be locked. Other inmates were yelling at him as he walked down the hall, asking him how he got out of his cell, but he didn't seem to hear them.

Tyler was just following me through all the twisting hallways. Tyler looked kind of emotionless, like a zombie, a zombie who sings.

We don't deal with outsiders very well. They say newcomers have a certain smell. You have trust issues, not to mention. They say they can smell your intentions. You'll never know the freakshow sitting next to you. You'll have some weird people sitting next to you...

We reached this open area, and I was standing to the left of the support beam. Tyler just walked past me and smiled, before he walked and stood to the left of me. He just continued singing, and then he started playing the air guitar. (What the hell is going on?)

Tyler was just dancing around, shredding the air guitar. He looked like he was having fun, and occasionally glanced over to me. I was just standing there, doing nothing, but apparently, that's not what he saw. This really made me wonder if Tyler was seeing things.

Suddenly, Tyler froze up and he instantly looked nervous. He starting singing again as he rubbed his neck.

All my friends are heathens, take it slow. Wait for them to ask you who you know. Please don't make any sudden moves. You don't know the half of the abuse...

Whatever Tyler was seeing, whatever he was experiencing, it seemed lit. He was dancing wildly along to the music. At that moment, an alarm went off inside the prison, probably because Tyler had escaped his cell. Tyler just kept dancing to the music. I don't think he even heard the alarm.

Tyler constantly looked over at me. I wonder what was going on inside his head. I wonder what he saw me doing. Was I dancing, too? Was I playing the song with Tyler? Was I singing it with him? What was Tyler seeing?

I'm not sure, but I was distracted from my thoughts when Tyler suddenly stopped dancing and fell to his knees. He sat down with his legs crossed and his hands hanging over his feet. He stared at the floor as he sang:

Why'd you come? you knew you should have stayed. I tried to warn you just to stay away. And now they're outside ready to bust. It looks like you might be one of us.

Just then, Tyler snapped out of his delusions as six heavily armed guards with guns and riot shields rushed in, pointing their guns at his head.

They were screaming demands at Tyler, but he just sat there. They dragged him up off the ground, and tightly handcuffed him.

"But he was there. He was real. He was real, right? Oh please, come back. Come back..."

Don't worry, Tyler, I'll be here for when you need me.

•

It's blasphemy.