come back // joshler

4: Josh

It was past midnight, and Josh couldn't sleep. He was thinking of Tyler. He just couldn't wrap his head around the fact that even though he had hurt him, he still messaged him almost every day, pleading for him to reply. And he knew he wasn't doing the right thing not replying, but what was he supposed to say? He really didn't know what to do, so he rolled out of bed and found his phone from the floor. He hesitated for a moment before picking it up and unlocking it, going to his contacts and looking for Tyler. His finger hovered over the name, not sure whether or not he should call him. What if he didn't answer? What if Josh was already too late? He groaned and instead decided to send Tyler a message. He stared at the screen, trying to think of what to say.

To: Tyjo

Hey..

Failed to deliver 12.16am Today

It didn't send..? Why? Josh gulped and tapped on the message to retry, but it just kept on saying 'failed to deliver' in an almost bloody-coloured font. Josh shivered at the thought and teared up. Why wasn't it delivering? Maybe Tyler had just turned his phone off for the night. That had to be it.

Josh knew Tyler never turned his phone off, though. He knew it, and he was getting worried. After sending five messages, each failing to be delivered, and the time being near one am, Josh started crying. He didn't know what to do now. Did he still have Tyler's brother's number? Josh decided to check, but it seemed as though he had deleted it. He checked for Tyler's parents' numbers too, but he had gotten rid of them too. He got frustrated and threw his phone away, got up from the floor and walked over to his closet. He pulled out a hoodie and a pair of sweatpants, got dressed, grabbed his phone again just in case and headed for the front door. He found a pair of shoes from beside the door and stuffed his feet in them before quietly leaving the house.

The air outside was like silk. It wasn't too warm, but not too cold either, just a nice weather, really. Josh put his hands in his pockets, and felt a piece of paper in the other, and his earplugs in the other. He decided to calm himself down by listening to some music, and so he plugged the earplugs in and started blaring Green Day through them. Then he took the crinkled piece of paper from his other pocket and unfolded it, growing curious as to what it was. As soon as it was open Josh teared up. It was an old note from Tyler.

hey jishwa, meet me at the treehouse today afternoon after school. i have something to tell you! love, ty.

Josh started thinking what Tyler had told him, but he just couldn't remember. Maybe if he went to the treehouse he would remember better? Yeah, that sounded like a good idea. So Josh decided to walk to the treehouse, he wasn't too far from the forest anyways. He got off the pavement and crossed the empty road, ducked under the dishevelled wore fence and walked down to the riverbed underneath him. He tried to think of how many steps you were supposed to count before turning into the woods, but he just couldn't. His mind was too clouded. He sighed and sat down on the ground, taking his phone in his hand and seeing a popup telling him he had a message from an unknown number. he clicked on the notification and read the message.

From: Unknown

Hello, I hope I have the right number, but this is Zack, Tyler's brother. If you're Josh Dun, then for the love of god please answer. We need help right now!

Received 1.22am Today

What was going on? Was Tyler okay? Josh felt his breathing getting heavy as he typed a response, trying not to come across the wrong way.

To: Unknown

This is Josh, do you mean Tyler Joseph?

Read 1.24am Today

From: Unknown

Yes, can you tell me if you've seen him tonight?

Received 1.24am Today

To: Zack J.

No i haven't, is everything okay?

Read 1.25am Today

From: Zack J.

No, he has gone missing and we've checked everywhere he could be that we know of. Is there some place you know that we possibly don't?

Received 1.26am Today

Josh was in shock. He didn't know what to do so he started crying, trying to think of places Tyler could have gone.

To: Zack J.

The treehouse

Read 1.28am Today

From: Zack J.

What do you mean? Where?

Received 1.29am Today

To: Zack J.

We had this treehouse we never told anyone about, I was actually just trying to find my way there. I can check it.

Read 1.29am Today

From: Zack J.

If he's there please call me.

Received 1.30am Today

To: Zack J.

I will, I promise. I'll go now and tell you if he's there or not when I get there.

Read 1.31am Today

Josh got up and wiped the tears from his face. He started walking again, this time paying attention to his surroundings and carefully counting every step. When the place looked about right he turned to his right and stepped in the forest. It was dark but peaceful in there, and all Josh could think of was Tyler. Where was he? What if he wasn't okay? What if he was there and he wasn't okay? What was he supposed to do then? He looked down at his phone and saw another message notification. He clicked it open, hoping it had been from Tyler, but it was just Zack replying to him by saying alright. He sighed deeply, but continued walking. It felt almost as if his legs were taking him there, and he had no control over it. Maybe he didn't. He barely ever had control of things, really.

He looked around and was pretty sure he was in the spot where the treehouse was supposed to be, but there was nothing, not even a pile of boards on its place. Maybe it had been taken down? Or was he in the wrong place? He thought that maybe he should look from near the area to make sure he hadn't made a mistake.

After a while of venturing around, trying to see if the treehouse was somewhere else, Josh finally found it. It looked as though it'd fall down if you climbed up to it, but he had to go up there just to make sure Tyler wasn't there. He wasn't sure if he'd rather see Tyler in there or not, and he sighed at himself. This had been the issue for the time he hadn't talked with Tyler. He wasn't sure what he'd say, and more importantly, how the boy would react to anything he had to say. He was scared of his response. He knew exactly why he stopped talking to him, but if he told him then it'd ruin the whole thing, because if he would've wanted, he would have told Tyler the reason, but he was too afraid of how he'd react. Josh shrugged his thoughts to the back of his mind and started climbing up the surprisingly slippery ladder leading to the treehouse. Once he was up he sighed in relief but inspected each board he stepped on with care. He didn't want to die by falling through a bunch of rotten wood.

After looking inside the treehouse Josh collapsed on the board floor. Tyler wasn't there. What would he do now? He decided to message Zack and tell him the bad news.

To: Zack J.

He isn't here, i'm so sorry..

Delivered 2.00am Today

Shit, was it that late already? Had he really been outside for that long? Josh huffed and buried his face in his hands. He started sobbing, worried about Tyler. At some point he fell asleep there, underneath the calm summer sky, dreaming of Tyler, and all the things that could've happened to him.