Shadows Will Scream That I'm Alone // Joshler

Both

Josh was confused as to why Tyler was acting so calm about this. He didn't actually know what went down last night, but by the looks of it it was bad. When Josh found Tyler, he was limping on the side of the road with bloody clothes. How the hell could he be so calm?!

Regardless of Josh's confusion, he continued driving. Tyler was dead-sure where he wanted to eat lunch, even though Josh wasn't quite fond of the restaurant, and he had repeated the question to Tyler a few times hoping that he'd choose something different.

"Are you sure you want to go to Taco Bell?"

"Yes, I'm sure. Why do you keep asking? You know it's my favorite!" Tyler said, smiling at Josh.

Josh smiled back at him. "Well, it's just that it's not particularly my favorite."

Tyler dramatically gasped in fake offense. "Are you saying you don't like Taco Bell?!"

Josh chuckled again. "Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. But it doesn't matter, it's your lunch. I just have one question."

"What?"

"Do they have chicken nuggets?"

Tyler threw his head back in laughter, causing Josh to laugh as well. They stayed like that for a few moments, Tyler wiping his eye from where a tear appeared. "Chicken nuggets?"

"Yes! It's a legitimate question!"

"I don't know, dude. You'll have to ask them," Tyler replied, still smiling.

"I will totally do that when we get there. It is now my mission."

Tyler let out another chuckle or two. "You do that, man."

It was silent for a few moments, but they were both still smiling. Josh focused on his driving, Tyler looked out the window. As moments became minutes, Tyler's mind drifted.

"Hey," he began, trying to get Josh's attention.

"Yeah?"

"You know what would suck?"

"A lot of things, but which one in specific are you talking about?"

"If you lost your memory."

"... what do you mean?"

"Like, if you forgot everything."

"Well... yeah, that would suck."

"You wouldn't know your name, you wouldn't know anyone else's name, and you wouldn't even know if you had a family or not."

Josh stayed quiet, knowing that Tyler had more to say. So he just drove on and let him talk.

"Can you imagine? All of your cherished memories spent with your favorite people: gone. Your happiest moments: gone. Everything would be gone! Even... even you would be gone."

Tyler's previously thoughtful demeanor quickly changed to a devoid and sad one. Josh was listening intently now, wanting to hear the rest of his point.

"All that you were. All that you are."

He was just staring blankly ahead now.

"You'd have no meaning," he said, looking back up to the road.

"Josh, I know I haven't known you long, but," Tyler began, looking at the pink-haired boy. "I think we're gonna be friends. Like, good friends, for a long time."

Josh chuckled slightly. "Think so?"

"I do."

"Yeah... I think so, too."