save [joshler]

purpose

Joshua's pov

I've always struggled with purpose. With my purpose, what are other people's purpose, the purpose of the world. It's never made sense to me. Why is the world made the way it was? Why are we floating through light-years of darkness? What's the purpose of it all? Why are we all here? What's our purpose on this planet?

When I was young, I questioned it all. When I got older I questioned me. I didn't think I had a purpose. I thought I shouldn't have even been born. All I knew was how to fight and defend myself, there's not much purpose in that.

But now that I'm sitting here, sitting on top of Brendon, his life in my hands; I think I know my purpose.

"P-please stop." He begs.

"Shut the fuck up!" I yell, hitting him more.

I can't stop, I can't seem to get off him. I knew something was off with him. I should've done something sooner.

"You're fucking worthless," I yell as I stand up and start kicking him around. "You don't deserve life; you're a fucking monster!"

He whimpered some more, groaned louder and cried harder; only fueling me more. I can only think of how often he did this to Tyler.

Tyler.

"Fuck you." I spat on him and kicked him one last time before rushing over to Tyler.

I pick up his limp, almost lifeless body and hold him close. "You're gonna be okay, Tyler. I'm here, I have you, you're safe." I say.

I pick up my phone from off the floor and call the police.

"You're safe Tyler. I'm here."

//

"Who are you in relations?" The cop asked me.

We loaded into the ambulance and I realized this is not the greatest look.

"I um, there's not much relations. I met him over a year ago and h-he told a couple days ago that he was in an abusive relationship."

"What did you do after you were told that?" She asked.

I pulled out the note that he wrote and stared at it. "I called his mom. Instantly. I worked for her, I cleaned her house so I have her number. I called her and told her what the note says. She said she was gonna go and check on him.

The next day she said she's gonna go tomorrow; which she did. She got there today and when she got to him, he was locked in his room. She called me and told me that. Told me she didn't have access to the key and that I needed to come over and kick in the door.

When I got there, I heard fighting in the other room. So I rushed over. I saw her unconscious body and I checked to see if she was alive, and she was. So I went to stop his boyfriend from hitting him. And I guess, I just... I hurt him. And I couldn't stop myself. I hurt him."

"Can I read the note?" She asked.

I looked at her and nodded before handing her the paper.

"'im sorry to lay this out on you all at once, but i need your help. brendon is abusing me and i cant get out of it by myself. you told me you would do anything for me, well i need you now, joshua. please help me.'"She read out loud. "Well, you did the right thing, Joshua." She handed me back the paper.

"I did?"

"Yes. You called his mom after he told you to help him. She tried and his boyfriend got home before you could get there. You did what you had to do, and I applaud you for helping a man you barely know."

//

"I'm sorry sir, you can't go past those doors." A nurse said, stopping me in my tracks.

"H-he needs to be okay, he has to be."

"The surgeons will do everything they can to save him." He said.

"I-thank you."

He nodded and I turned to go sit in the waiting room. God, I hope he survives this. I need him to survive this.

I don't know how I'll live knowing I killed Brendon for nothing. Well, not nothing. I probably stopped him from abusing others but still...I just, I need Tyler to make it through this.

//

I was awoken to someone shaking me and saying my name.

"What?" I asked, sitting up in the chair and rubbing my eyes.

"It's Madison, Joshua."

I dropped my arms and looked at her with an empathetic look. "Hey Madison."

"They said we can go see them, I sent Jay and Zack to go but I wanted to wait here with you."

"Oh, Madison, how long have you guys been here? I'm sorry I didn't call you three, I just needed to make sure your brother and mom were okay."

"It's okay, Joshua. Thank you for saving Tyler and mom." She shifted in her seat and rested her head on the wall behind her. "I don't think I'll ever be able to repay you for saving them." She said.

"I don't want you to repay me, Madison. I did what anyone would do in that situation."

She looked at me and half smiled. "But it wasn't just anyone, Joshua. You were there, you saved them. You..." She shook her head and wiped away her tears. "You gave me my brother back, Joshua. I'll forever be grateful for you."

"Well let's just pray I didn't get to him too late."

"Even if you did, Joshua... you saved him from... from that monster. I can't believe I didn't see it. I should've fucking known."

"Hey, you can't put this on you. It was Brendon who did this. You're so young Madison, there's no way you should've seen anything. Fuck, I barely even saw it. I knew something was off, but I didn't know it was this bad."

She sighed and moved to rest her head on my shoulder. "Thank you for saving him."

I smiled softly and rested my head on hers. "Of course, Madison. Of course."

I don't know how to feel about this, but I think I found my purpose.