your static voice beside mine

wake up

**Trigger Warning**: This story deals with mental health issues, such as anxiety, depression, and self-harm. Please stay safe everyone!! 

The store was silent, almost to a point of alarm. You'd expect a music store to be filled with lively activity, with children hoping to learn the guitar, or some teens looking to rock out on the drums, or maybe even an eldery gentleman looking to fix his trumpet. But today was different. It was a lazy day. Tiredness settles in the air like smog over the city. And a boy, lost in his own thoughts, was just that.

Josh never thought his life would end up like this. He always wanted something different. Perhaps move to a different town. He never thought this far ahead, so he makes up the steps as he goes along. So far this method was getting him nowhere.

"Look at me," he mutters to himself. "Stuck in a dead end job at Guitar Center of all places."

"Hey! You're lucky to even have a job!"

Apparently his complaints were louder than he thought.

Across the room was his co-worker Chris, packaging and shipping off different boxes of instruments. He smiles as he says the words, and Josh braves a smile back.

"Well, looks like it's quitting time," Chris says as he looks down at his wristwatch. "See you tomorrow Josh."

"See you," Josh answers as he grabs his bag and turns off the light.

Chris holds the door open for Josh, and he gives him his thanks. He begins to walk to his car, brisk like the wind.

Josh gets in the car and begins to speed off into the night. Is this how it's gonna be forever? Trapped in a monotonous job with the same routine day in and day out? The grey, dark tones of his life make him weary and worn. The world isn't gonna stop for him, so he doesn't even bother stopping for the world. He realized this a while ago.

After tens of minutes of driving, Josh finally gets home. Well, as close to home as he can get. He runs up the stairs to his apartment, one foot after the other, a loud continuous hull of noise. He grabs his key and turns it to find his empty apartment. His roommates are nowhere to be found. Probably off partying somewhere. He'd be offended that they didn't invite him, but they always know he's busy. Always know that he's a downer. And Josh can't hold that against them.

So without trying to pity himself, he opens the fridge to fish out some leftovers to eat. He prepares them as best as he can and starts to eat in silence. The humming, terrifying silence.

Josh never liked the quiet. It always bugged him. The fact that nothing was moving or doing anything except for him put this unexplainable pressure on him, like he had to do something.

This, along with countless other things, worried him to his core. You could tell this just by looking at him. He carries his struggles on his shoulders like a backpack of bricks and heavy weights. His sleepless nights are worn under his eyes, and his worries are shown on the ends of his sleeves by his loose threads and out of place buttons.

After he finishes eating, he lays on the couch and searches through channel upon channel. Just something to distract him would do. Alas, nothing is interesting enough, not even to lull him to sleep. He hates sleeping in his bed. Something about the feeling that sleep is what you are supposed to do, and if you try to do it, you just worry yourself out of it. Drifting away to background noise is so much easier.

Just as his eyes begin to droop, a muffled vibration is heard from his bag. He stumbles up to grab his phone and answers it with a sigh, almost uninterested in what the person will say. He doesn't recognize the number.

"Hello?" he says with a scratchy voice.

"Hey uh, how do you know if you're suicidal again?"

Hi everyone!! I was very nervous to post, but I decided to do it anyway! I love writing and twenty one pilots, so of course I joined the two together. This idea came to me late at night and I just had to pursue it. Enjoy! :))