//JOSH\\

The day's grow colder, it seems. Tyler won't  leave his room for anything. Jenna often stays with him, and so does Nina, if he lets them. He is tired. He is worried. He is sick. Ever since Maddy was kidnapped, he keeps growing weaker and more tired. He is a shell, now. An exoskeleton, if you will. Tyler is not one to be shaken up by the outside world, but when he was, damn, it showed.

And now we just received news that was going to tear him apart limb from limb because of how close he is to his family.

"I don't want to hear it," Tyler sighs from his room. It's probably another argument. He often has them with himself. Frankly, I don't think that he want to have them with anyone else. "Leave me alone!" And with that, he storms downstairs, chewing delicately on his bottom lip and shuffling towards me.

I look up at him, the saddest expression on my face, at this point. "Oh, God. Now what?"

"Tyler," I start, really unable to allow my lips to form the words that I have to say to him. I can't look at him the same. His sister is the world to him. She's so important. His entire family is. He doesn't take kindly to his family being messed with. He hasn't eaten in a week, his eyes are sunken in, and he barely knows how to stand up straight anymore. We need to fix this, but I don't know how. And even though there's no word on where Madds is... "Tyler, Jay is dead."

"What?" Tyler whispers, pulling his hands over his mouth. This causes him to collapse on the floor, his legs no longer able to support his weight. They never were, really, and now Tyler doesn't even have the strength to cry. He's letting it happen again.

"He... They found him with a knife in his stomach last night. Ty, I'm so sorry." I bite my lip, taking a few steps before kneeling next to my best friend and pulling him into an embrace. I feel him shake, trying to sob. I sigh. "Don't, Ty. It's okay."

"How the hell is this okay?" Tyler hisses, pushing me away from him. He coughs into his sleeve, glaring at Josh. "My sister is gone. My brother was murdered. How on earth could you think this is alright?" Tyler looks down, his eyes glossing over with fresh tears. "I'm so scared, Josh." He cries, and my heart shatters.

"We all are," I whisper.

And it hits me.

It hits me how real this is. How is it so... vague? It's something that I never thought I'd go through. Its something I never thought my best friend would have to go through.

And yet I'm not as shaken up as I would imagine.

No, I'm not heartless. When I got that phone call, my heart sank. I just... I'm not Tyler. I knew Jay. I knew him well. He was the most relatable of the Joseph's, something that he knew well. I guess I'm just... I don't know what I am. I don't want to know what I am right now. I just want to help my friend.

But how do I help him through something like this?

I can't tell. I can't figure out anything with this.

Let's make a list of all the things that lead up to this.

Maddy's nowhere to be found.
Jay is dead
Tyler and Nina are hearing voices

Voices

Of course.

Tyler once told me about this organization of some kids who were afraid of what he could do. Though, it's really stupid, because who gives a crap about a family that communicates with dolls. It's one of the weirdest and lamest powers out there, and there are still people out to get him? To get his family? They're a bunch of bigots with nothing better to do than ruin people's lives.

And then I realize that they're after my best friend.

And I snap out of my daze for a moment, to catch a glimpse of Sammi rushing to the door. She opens it to see a concerned Connor Paisely, his eyes big. "What's up, Sam?" He questions, and she pulls him inside. She explains everything to him.

"Josh?" Connor sees me staring. "Josh, are you alright?"

"No one in this household is alright, right now." I sigh, pulling a seat behind me. I sit down burying my face in my hands. "For all we know, they're both dead, and we can't do shit about it. No, I'm not okay."

"Josh," Sammi tucked her hair behind her ear, sitting down next to me. "Yeah we can." She looks at Connor. "We can do anything we want about it, because two friends are gone, and I'm not going to let us sit here and wallow in our own sorrows. We will find them, and they will be brought in and charged." She tilts her head. "Just, please don't do... nothing,"

"What do I do?"

"What do we do?" Connor corrects. "My brother in law is a detective, which I know is super cliche but comes in handy. Anyway, my point is: he can help us." Connor tilts his head towards me. "All you need to do is say the word."

"What about Tyler? It's his family."

"Tyler can't make this decision right now. The poor man is practically bedridden with grief." Sami looks at me. "So, Josh, you wanna kick some ass."

"Hell yeah, I do." I say standing up, slowly. I sigh, letting my hair fall into my face. I leaned against the wall. "Yeah, Connor. Call your brother in law."

Sammi grins, tired. Her hair is unkempt, and her clothes are wrinkled. She shakes her head at me. "Tyler will thank you for this," she whispers. "I will thank you for this. I promise you."

And then Connor gets off the phone. "Let's go catch ourselves a killer."

--a/n--

Short af and inconsistent because I haven't written in first person in forever

Yes I'm aware of the switch from fist to third person and vice versa

Oh where have I been?

Writing better fucking books and doing school things hbu

Anyway dropped another bomb on you even though this chapter is horrifically short.

It's 1000 words even which is the MINIMUM I will go while writing.

That's why I don't update much. On average a chapter takes about two to four hours and I normally update at school or in bed and a lot of these I don't care about

Yeah I'll try to update considering it's been a year

I'm not even exaggerating rip

Alright guys I'll see ya later

I love you my Carcrashovercastyoungbloods

-Emily aka foblvr