12:01 (Sequel to Midnight Man)

7 teen

everything hurts.

i am aware of this immediately. my eyes are sandbags nearly too heavy to lift, but i manage. it takes me so much strength to focus in on my surroundings. everything seems so blurry, so out of touch. i'm staring up at bookshelves, most of them knocked completely out of position.

even the very task of lifting myself off the ground seems to burden me, my body wishing to curl up and allow this pain to wash it away. i hear the sounds of police sirens outside. i sit up, my head protesting immediately. i register i am in the library, except it is strangely empty. i could have sworn it was packed not long ago.

the sound of sirens gets louder outside.  i wonder, perhaps dumbly, where everyone is. is anyone looking for me? the same thought s trail through my mind repeatedly. why am i here? what have i done? where is josh?
is everything okay? my heart thuds in my chest as i look over to see bodies around me.

there are three of them. one for each of josh's friends. i look at them, horrified. their faces are blank, and i find myself scared. for the first time in a long time.

i remember the same sequence of scenes. they play in my mind over and over. i'm a terrible person. those people are dead. i know it's my fault. i did this. no one else would have. i hope josh doesn't hate me.

where is he?

i think, long and hard, trying to remember that part. my head's killing me. my back hurts.

fuck!

my back!

i remember now. remember the sinister look on josh's face as he grabbed that knife and raked it through me, over and over. i gave myself up, for him... i tried to make it right.

all the emotion i'd begged myself not to feel all these years floods through me. remorse, regret, sadness, anger. they're tidal waves of feeling and i stagger back in shock of it all.
i know what i have to do.

i know the only way to do it.

i pull myself off the ground,
grunting with the effort it takes to force my battered body upwards. my back is screaming with pain, but i push through it. i stumble toward one of the fallen, vaguely remembering his name as jack. he'll do. i search my pockets for my wallet, pulling out my license, my identification. i search around for the knife i know josh stabbed me with. i find it,  several feet away.

the sirens haven't stopped yet, and i know i don't have long. i scratch at my face on the identification, the knife marks making it impossible to tell it's me anymore. perfect. i slip it into jack's back pocket, apologizing to him silently. he's tyler joseph now, he's the criminal.

i stagger toward an open window. i all but fall out of it. the police are pulling up out front, banging the door down just as i find myself running to the woods next door. my back is howling but i make my getaway swiftly. i compose my story mentally. i've made my choice and goddammit i hope he won't hate me. i wouldn't blame josh if he did, though. i deserved it, but now i think he deserves worse. how dare he try to stop me. after the love i have built for him.

and, finalized by my escape, tyler joseph is no more.