Columbus, Ohio - A Tyler Joseph Story

ØNE

Columbus, Ohio

The street is gray, cracked with the wears of time.

Summer-touched trees line the pavement, their bare limbs standing, unmoving, above the warm air.

Tar black tires bear the weights of various vehicles down the drive.

The houses look windswept.

Tyler is ten.

-

The brown headed boy sits, his arms crossed over his legs, on the front porch. A light caw of a crow fills the air.

The sparse prickly grass is dry and hot. No moisture lays in the cracked dirt.

Tyler sits with a thousand-yard stare, burdened eyes thinking carefully.

"Honey?"

His gaze breaks, and he immediately turns to see his mother above him. She has hair like his, curled in waves, but more so. She has a thin, gaunt-like face that Tyler knows was once beautiful. Her shoulders slope downwards and extend into pale arms that end in the calloused skin of her hands.

"Hey, come inside. Its awfully bright out, isn't it?" Tyler's mother continues.

He shifts to get up, nervous, but does so anyway. With a helping hand from his mother, he stands up shakily. He didn't want to go into the house. He didn't want to see his father or Zack or his sister.

He just wants to be alone.

But they walk inside together.