ghost | joshler

Vanish | 1

Missing.

The word echoed through Josh's head as he stared at the police officer before him. The man's lips continued to move, but no noise came out. All he could hear was silence as the information he had managed to hear bounced around in his mind.

Tyler was missing.

"Sir? Did you hear me?"

Josh snapped back to reality. He slowly shook his head.

"I know this is a lot to process. I'm going to need you to come down to the station for questioning. We need to know as much as possible about last night when he disappeared. You can ride with me if you'd like."

He managed to get out a quiet okay. He went back inside to grab his shoes and phone before following the officer to the car. The purple haired boy slid into the passenger seat, staring blankly in front of him. The officer shot him a sympathetic glance. He heard the car start, and felt it begin to move. The car was completely silent.

Tyler had vanished.

Everything was a blur as he made his way into the station. At the time he was sitting in a chair across from where he would be questioned. He didn't know how long he was staring at the door before it opened. He looked up to see that the person exiting the room was Tyler's mom. Her puffy eyes met Josh's. It seemed like she had been crying. Josh hadn't cried. He was simply numb. He only then realized that Mrs.Joseph had come up to him when he was pulled into a hug. She reassured Josh with kind words, telling him it would be okay. That they would find Tyler. He could only nod in response.

He was brought into the questioning room minutes later. The chair was uncomfortable as he sat, a cup of water being placed before him.

"My name is Officer Stump, and this is Officer Wentz. I need to record this for protocol, okay Josh?"

He nodded. Officer Stump smiled kindly, and then pressed record.

"Today is Friday, August 20th, 2010, 7:04 PM. Interviewers present are DI Stump and DI Wentz. We're here with Joshua Dun. Can you state your name, age, and place of residence?"

"Joshua William Dun, 17, Columbus Ohio. I go by Josh, though" He quietly says, picking at the end of his shirt.

"Thank you. For the purpose of this interview, can you please state your relation to Tyler Joseph?"

Josh looked up, glancing quickly between the two officers across from him.

"He was my boyfriend."

Officer Wentz nodded, and Stump sent him a sympathetic look.

"When was the last time that you saw or had contact with Tyler?"

"He texted me last night. He said he needed to get away from his dad for a little, and he was going to come over."

"Why did he want to get away from his father?"

"Tyler's dad isn't very accepting of him being gay." Officer Stump nodded at his response.

"Did he ever make it to your house?"

Josh nodded. "He did. We watched a movie, but then he said he needed to get home since it was a school night. I offered to take him home but he told me he needed some fresh air, and that he'd be okay." His voice wavered on the last words.

"What time did he leave your house?"

"It must've been about 8:15. The sun was setting."

"Josh, were you aware that Tyler never made it home last night," Officer Wentz asked. His words hung in the air. They felt suffocating.

"No." He replied, tears welling up in his eyes. He looked around as everything became blurred.

"That's all for today." He said, clicking the button to stop the recording.

He felt like the room was too small. He couldn't breathe. Tears started to fall as he was walked to the door, which he quickly left through. He only made it a few steps before he collapsed on the concrete of the sidewalk. Then began to sob.

He should've taken Tyler home. Walked with him. Convinced him to stay the night instead, so he could drift to sleep safely in Josh's arms. He could see his beautiful boyfriend's smile when he woke him up in the morning for school. But he let him leave. And now he was a missing person.

It's all my fault.

A.N.

Hi,

This is my first story. Im hoping to update this somewhat frequently, but if you do happen to read this please be patient with me. Sometimes I don't have the motivation to do much of anything. I'm really excited for this, so expect more updates soon?

Thank you for reading !

-Wren