Tyler and the Valaholics: The Beginning

Chapter 30

Warning- Could contain somewhat graphic description of wounds (if anyone reading this has objections or feels it violates Wattpad guidelines, let me know ASAP so I can change it)

Song of the chapter- 'What Do I Know' by Ed Sheeran

'Lord knows everybody's talking 'bout exponential growth and the stock market crashing in their portfolios
While I'll be sitting here with a song that I wrote
Saying love could change the world in a moment
But what do I know?'

"Do something!" Josh nearly shouts as his face becomes paler and drains of blood like from the wound in my arm.

I'm completely at a loss because I don't know what to do. The only thing I do happen to know is not to pull out the offensive pointy object especially if it's as big as this knife is for it can widen the area or instigate excess blood loss so I begin to suggest we go to the nearest hospital when the knife is extracted from my arm by a nauseated and near hysterical Josh and I mentally smack myself in my head.

"You're not supposed to do that!" my voice rings out loudly.

He looks about ready to faint and his breathing is too rapid to be normal so I instruct him to get the guy and follow me before I get too lightheaded because who knows how he's going to handle that?

"Right, Josh? Josh?" I turn around to see him already unconscious while my vision begins to blur.

My feet feel like they're about to give out so I make a run for Josh's phone and manage to call for help before I black out. I open my eyes to meet those of a nurse who seems to be checking my vitals as he instructs me on how to handle my arm until my wound heals in about two weeks, my head nodding slightly in response. My heart rises to my throat when I remember that I was supposed to get ready and perform today and- Josh! What about him?

At the puzzled look that must've overtaken my face, the nurse explains that the teenager who was with me is waiting outside the room and the other guy was arrested for assault. He exits the room after a couple of seconds after giving me pain medication in case the pain becomes unbearable. Seconds later, a disturbed looking Josh enters the room and immediately begins apologizing upon seeing that I'm awake.

I cut off his rambling apologies, "Josh, are you okay?"

His face switches its expression in a second from sorry to surprise, "Erie, I'm not the one who's been given pain meds!"

"Yeah but you look quite disturbed, you know?"

"Fine, I'll tell you but just don't make fun of me. I had a severe case of haemophobia and it had almost subsided due to therapy but that just brought me back to my ways and I might have just undone all the effort I put in for three entire years," he looks somewhat ashamed as he tells me of his condition, which is certainly puzzling because a phobia is nothing to be ashamed of.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Josh!"

"It wasn't your fault, dagnabbit! You know what, why don't we just drop it for a bit? How are you feeling?" his face briskly goes through a variety of expressions until it settles on concern.

"Well, this could be worse so it's good. I mean, I barely felt anything back then except for a numb feeling and the pain's dulling now so it's fine," I attempt to reassure him but it doesn't work as I expect it to as he responds with a sigh.

"Erie, that's the painkillers. Please, just this once, can you please not overexert yourself?"

"I think I can bear to stand this day, Josh, because opportunities like the competition are rare and I'm plenty sure I can somehow push through this. Can we please leave now?" I mock his pleading tone in hopes of getting him to give in which actually does work, much to my delight.

"Right, so what do we do now? There's about three hours before the performances are set to begin and two hours before we're supposed to be there," Josh asks me once we're outside the hospital after managing to get out post bickering with several of the staff who seemed bent on making us stay but finally relented.

"I don- holy jeebers! Stacie doesn't know. Man, she must be freaking out like anything!" I exclaim.

"C'mon, I'll walk with you till your home," Josh's right hand entwines in my uninjured left arm as he pulls me along.

"Oh, Josh, that's okay, I'll get home all right. You won't have any time and I bet you're tired too. Besides, isn't your house in the opposite direction of mine from here?"

"Erie, it's fine, I'll manage. I've definitely got to make up for letting all of that craziness happen to you, plus, I'm actually terrified of your sister and those little girls and I'm pretty sure Stacie can be pretty frightening too," he admits honestly.

We're past halfway home whilst chatting about the most random things in an attempt to cheer the other up when I blurt out, "Hey, can I ask you something? I was just curious as to why you pushed me forward when that guy confronted us. I mean, I understand you'd want to get to safety first before saving someone else, anyone would--"

"Erie, it was only a terrible attempt at humour and possibly cuteness, I didn't mean to abandon you but I saw that plank and I absolutely couldn't resist the thought of sneaking up on him from behind to stop him. You know how he told us to hand over all our valuables? Well, you're extremely valuable to me so I handed you over," he stutters, making me burst into laughter at the mention of his misplaced wit.

"Well, at least you found it funny. I'm really sorry, I realize that was absolutely no place for fun or humour or sarcasm but I- I don't really have an excuse for something so grave so you can scold my head off," he mumbles and droops his head downwards as if in shame or apology, or both.

"Josh, I understand. It's fine, it's over for now so let's just--" I'm cut off by a loud yet familiar voice nearing me when we're seconds from reaching home.

"Valerie, I don't understand how in the universe you thought you could do that to us and to Stacie! How do you think Stacie would be able to get over you and single-handedly raise those three girls? And who the heck is this guy? Was he bothering you? Do I have to beat him up?" Cynthia's voice rises as she nears me and nearly chokes me to death in a hug resembling the kind Molly Weasley is infamous for giving.

She pulls back and glares at Josh like he killed one of her best friends. I peek out the side of my eyes to see that he's nearly trembling in fright and backing off so I half-heartedly smack her shoulder and attempt to assure him she won't hurt him but I wind up failing miserably because he's deaf to my words.

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You are free to stalk me and kill me for not posting when I said I'd have more chapters ready but just try to do it after April 7th because that's when my babes Pentatonix release PTX, Vol. IV! Ooh, plus their video for their cover of 'Imagine' is so motivational and touching! 😍 😭

Hopefully, I'll somehow manage to catch up on my sleep and I'm already sleep deprived and it's past 1...

Good night!!¡

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