Red Never Gets Along With Yellow

Forest

Tyler left his room in a disorganized mess of clothes and papers-everything scattered and dysfunctional. Not that it mattered to anyone...especially himself. The one on the brink, on the edge of a cliff with slickened rocks at the bottom. An easy escape, he would think- more than he should. It was a school day but Tyler was skipping, as per usual. The teachers didn't really care, just so long as it didn't affect them in any way. His dark-ringed eyes were bloodshot, he hadn't gotten any sleep the night before and was suffering from it.

His eyes darted to his phone which had started to ring noisily, it was Josh. The boy who was the only light left on in his mind, the only thing that kept him from taking the plunge. They hung out at an abandoned treehouse, down in the forest. They'd sing and dance, make each other forget about everything that screamed in their heads. Although Josh was a lot more normal, or maybe he just doesn't admit it. It made Tyler paranoid when Josh was gone, even if he knew he was at another friend's house. It scared him to think about what could happen to Josh Dun. The only boy that kept him sane.

His parents cared, but never believed in what he had. This angered Tyler to no end because his parents could be amazing advocates but it doesn't seem to be the case since they are so resilient about something very simple to grasp and understand. The boy shoved two red and blue notebooks into his backpack with a grunt, he had to hurry now. His mother would be getting up soon and he didn't want her to see him in this state, after all, the only thing she would do is worry even more and she didn't need it. The boy put on a black zip-up and snuck out the back door. The faded orange and pink of the morning sunrise made Tyler breath deeply in appreciation. A billow of steam escaped his lips. He stood in the backyard for a moment, feeling the cold sun on his tired face.

Snapping back into reality, Ty propped himself over the old wooden fence of his backyard, not particularly hard to do since it was about six feet tall. Looked back once, Tyler stood at the edge of the woods, it was a moment of silence. He had always loved the forest, with its beauty and serene feeling. The feeling quickly became violent as a familiar voice rang through unexpectedly, the one he named and hated. Blurryface. A name that could kill him in his sleep if it was what came to be. Tyler named his alter, after the phantom that he saw in his dream, which to Ty was Blurryface's physical form.

As soon as Blurry laughed, the boy took off running, not sure from what but just running. The trees rushed past in flurry of greens and browns. His legs burned after only a few minutes.He knew by heart that this wouldn't help at all since he was already burrowed inside his head. Tyler halted his running, stumbling to a nearby tree.

"Hey, Ty?" Tyler heard Josh from a distance and smiled, "Is that you?"

"Yeah..." he panted towards the ground, "I'm here!"

Josh laughed, "You're gonna kill yourself one day; over-doing your jogging exercises."

Tyler flipped Josh off, it was a long time ago when they first met, right here in the forest. Ty was running to get rid of his thoughts, except that time he overexerted himself. Once he had stopped to get a breath, Tyler passed out of pure lack of oxygen. Then when he woke up, Josh was standing over with his trademark mischievous grin.

"Why are you sleeping here?" the boy had asked.

"Oh sorry...I was...doing jogging exercises." Tyler spoke quickly.

Josh laughed, "You passed out to that?"

"They might've been a little extreme." Ty chuckled nervously.

They awkwardly talked but after a while, became everything to each other, talking about nothing and everything all at once.

Sirens rang from far away as the two friends walked side by side while listening.

"Let's guess what's happening..." suggested Tyler, breaking the silence.

"Guess what's happening to the person?" asked Josh.

Tyler nodded, grabbing a thick stick and using it as a walking cane.

"Well...I think that they ate too many m&ms." Josh raised his eyebrows, "I did that once and puked."

Ty laughed, "Gross!" his spirits were lifted for now and it was relieving to feel something other than misery and pressure.

"What if the person was eating a taco bell chalupa and the chalupa had a knife?!" responded the shorter boy with a flourish of excitement.

"Better than what happened to my guy..." Josh said, then spotted the treehouse only a moment after saying that, "Race you!"

In reality, Ty was quite good with running, he wasn't good at long distance but when he wanted to, he could be fast.

Tyler took off before Josh could, Josh was right on his heels.

"You twat, you're supposed to wait until I say go!" but Ty didn't respond as he raced to the treehouse. He hopped up the ladder, two rungs at a time.

"Beat you!" snickered Tyler as he helps the other tired boy up into the wooden structure.

The treehouse had very little in it, just a plastic table with two bean-bags in the corner.

It was very dark and cold in the wooden structure, Josh took out a light and set it on the table.

"So what's on your mind tonight?" the brown-haired asked while playing with the broken zipper on his jacket.

Tyler had to be honest, "Blurryface."

"Isn't he always?-"

"Well...no..." Tyler flicked away a small spider on his shirt, where his heart was.

"No?" Joshua stopped messing with the zipper.

"He leaves a lot...goes somewhere in my head." Ty rubbed his temples as Blurry warned him not to spill everything, but it was his best friend so he couldn't hide something as important as that.

"He wants me to kill myself." Tyler murmured his eyes staring at the wood below.

"But...you want to stay alive, right?"

"Of course I do." Ty lied to Josh for the first time.

"So?"

"He wants to kill the person I am." he tried to explain, "The person you see is the real me, the one I want to be. Blurry is my anxiety, depression, and insecurities...whether he's a figment of my imagination or not. He's still a part of me."

Josh shrugged, then sat down in Ty's bean bag next to the older boy.

"Well, crazy or not, I'll always be here for you." Josh smiled, hugging Tyler.

Ty hugged him back, he was stuck in this cycle now. Blurry was force feeding him lies about how Josh isn't worthy of trust, but Tyler cared for Josh and wanted to trust him with all his heart. Blurry was good at presenting facts...showing proof and all together persuading him how Josh just wants to hurt him and nothing more.

Tyler shook it off, letting go of Josh with a faint smile. They sat in silence, now sitting on the same bean bag. Listening to the birds and cars rush past Josh's side of the forest. Where he comes from, they've never been to each other's houses due to the fact that they don't want to be meeting at their houses. Their safe place was here, in the treehouse.

The night was settling in, Josh had already left an hour ago. Tyler was writing down some poetry with the light that Josh had decided to leave for Ty, knowing his habits to just sit and write for a while. The boy noticed he was extremely tired and worn out. So in response, he put down the notebook and leaned against the corner to get some rest.