josh, the house is haunted

reoccurring

Every once in a while he would sleep wrong and wake up with sore muscles. It was a fairly common consequence of sleeping in weird positions. So, when Tyler woke up with a terrible pain in his neck, he didn't think much about it. He rubbed the skin to try and soothe the aching but froze in place when he processed that he wasn't in his bed. He was on the floor. A dirty floor.

On the floor in the turret.

His elbow scraped against an old nail as he scrambled to stand on his feet. Disoriented, he spun, taking in the windows on all sides. How was he here? Why was he here?!

The middle of the pentagram was under his socks. He made a panicked noise and lifted his foot like he had stepped in old gum. He slowly backed away, then, in fear, his adrenaline caused him to rush to the trapdoor.

"Josh?" He called as he climbed down the ladder. "Josh?!"

He tripped over his feet, collapsed in the middle of the hallway, and wrapped his arms around his torso. Josh came out of the doorway, dressed in pajamas. Tyler also had sleepwear on- his were dirty. "Tyler? Where were you? Why are you on the floor?"

"I was-" He tried to catch his breath. "I was in-" He pointed to the short opening.

"The tower?" He raised an eyebrow. "Why were you there?"

"I-I woke up- Josh I don't know what's happening." Hands were covering his face.

Josh squatted near his height. "Hey, just take a breath, honey."

"I-I don't sleepwalk." He looked at him through his fingers. "Why would I wake up there?"

Josh shook his head, trying to get his head around the situation. "You really woke up in there?"

"Yes!" He nodded fiercely and then made grabby hands towards his boyfriend, there were tears in his eyes. Josh kneeled and then hugged him. Tyler sank into him. The question was weak, "You didn't move me, right?"

"No. Why would I do that?"

"I don't know." He sniffed. "I'm trying to make sense of it. Why would I go there myself?"

"Yeah, I don't know. You have never sleepwalked. At least we never noticed... but I guess that's the only explanation."

Tyler sighed in exasperation. "It was so scary not knowing where I was."

Josh shifted so he was also sitting on the floor but they didn't pull away. "Yeah, and I didn't even know where you were. I had just started looking for you when I heard you yell."

"God," He pushed the bridge of his nose into his shoulder. "What if I went outside or something?"

"Good thing you didn't."

"Yeah... I don't want to do it again."

"I don't want you to either."

"What time is it?" He raised his head.

"Almost 11."

Tyler sighed sadly. "Can we do something today?"

"Like what?" Josh rubbed his arm.

He shrugged. "I wanna go outside. Do something fun. I've just been so stressed out lately."

"Yeah, of course, we can do something. I think we both need to clear our heads. Ready to get up?"

"Guess so."

Josh stood up first, then lent a hand to Tyler. The two went back into the bedroom to move on with their day. When Tyler noticed the dirt on his shirt, he pulled the clothing off and headed toward the closet.