Work Text:
1)
Tyler first noticed it two days after he moved in with his new roommate. His roommate, Josh, was an anxious mess who was constantly looking over his shoulder. Tyler assumed he had paranoia, or PTSD, or something. His assumptions did not change until night number three.
Tyler’s eyes flew open and it took him a moment to figure out what had happened. That was when he heard it again: the unmistakable screaming coming through the thin wall that connected his and Josh’s rooms together. His first thought was that someone had broken into their apartment, so he jumped out of his bed nearly falling over because of his lack of equilibrium from just waking up, and ran towards his bedroom door. He opened his door, rounded the corner, and let himself into Josh’s room. Tyler scanned the room and found the only person there was Josh, who looked like he had just seen a ghost. Tyler ran a hand through his hair, “What the hell are you doing? It’s the middle of the night.”
Although, Josh did not answer him. Instead he screamed again, then jumped up running towards Tyler. He grabbed Tyler’s arm, and pulled him with an unexplainable amount of force away from the door. Tyler was not expecting that to happen, and tripped, falling to the floor. “Ugh, Josh!”
Tyler looked over to see Josh staring through the air with a terrified expression on his face. Tyler opened his mouth to speak again, but Josh beat him to it, “Ahhh! Stop! No! Don’t! Please no! Stop!” Tyler bugged his eyes out. His roommate was seriously psychotic.
• + • + • + • + • + • + • + •
After the whole “screaming at nothing” incident, Tyler took the time to look Josh up online. He ended up finding Josh’s old Facebook account, and messaging several of his friends for answers. The account had not been active in fourteen months, but one response came instantly.
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Dylan: Josh is out of the hospital? How is he doing?
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Tyler opened the message confused, then responded.
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Tyler: Josh was in the hospital?
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Dylan: Yeah for a long time actually. I’m pretty sure he had to stay for at least twelve months.
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Tyler was beyond confused by that point.
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Tyler: What happened?
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Dylan: He lost it for awhile and was hospitalized. I'm pretty sure he ended up getting diagnosed with schizophrenia.
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All Tyler could do was stare at the screen on his computer. He did not know what he was supposed to do.
2)
The second time something happened, Tyler was nauseated. After Tyler found out Josh was Schizophrenic, he found himself walking on eggshells around his roommate.
Tyler was sitting at their kitchen table, eating cereal one morning and jumped when he heard Josh scream in agony in his room. Not even a second later Josh came running out of his room towards Tyler. He was holding his left arm out in front of him, and it was covered in blood. Tyler choked on his cereal, spitting cereal and milk all over the table, when he saw Josh’s arm. The wound resembled the wound one would get from being scratched by a large animal. There were four deep gashes, all aligned with one another.
“I didn’t do it!” were the first words out of Josh’s mouth. Tyler looked up at him in shock, so Josh repeated himself, “I didn’t do it! It wasn’t me!” Tyler slowly nodded his head, keeping his eyes on Josh’s face because he felt his stomach turn. “Okay, but I-I think you need to go to the hospital.” Josh immediately shook his head ‘no’, “I’m not going to the hospital! I just- I just need some help with the bandages.” A drop of blood fell from the wound onto the kitchen floor, and Tyler couldn’t help when he gagged, “Josh, I really think you need to go to the hospital.”
Josh was on the brink of tears, “Please don’t make me go.” Tyler stared at him in pity for a minute, but eventually nodded.
Tyler helped him clean up his arm, all the while swallowing down bile. Throughout the entire process Josh continued to state, “I didn’t do it.” And everytime Tyler would tell him, “I believe you.”
Lies.
3)
The third time something happened, Tyler was a little bit upset. Josh and Tyler were sitting at their kitchen table for dinner. Two weeks had passed since what Tyler referred to in his head as the “Denial of self harm” incident, and Josh was physically healing okay.
Tyler made them spaghetti and meatballs, and he even surprised himself because it tasted good. Tyler glanced up at Josh, who was just twisting the noodles on his fork, and repeatedly glancing nervously above Tyler’s head. Tyler cleared his throat, “If you don’t like it, you can have something else.” Josh shook his head, not once taking his eyes off of the spot above Tyler, “No, no, it’s good. Thank you.” Tyler set his fork down, “Josh, you haven’t even tasted it.”
Josh looked down and locked eyes with Tyler briefly, before they darted back up towards the ceiling. Josh cleared his throat, “Oh, uh, yeah, I’m just not feeling very well.” Tyler picked his fork back up and twisted some noodles on it, “You’ll feel better if you eat something.” Josh quickly nodded his head, “Yeah, yeah, you’re right.”
Josh picked up his fork, twisted some noodles on it, and moved it towards his mouth. Before his fork made it to his mouth, he glanced up and his eyes widened in terror. He threw his fork down on the table, and stood up abruptly knocking his chair over. “I’m really not feeling well, I have to go!” he exclaimed loudly, then practically ran to his room, leaving a confused and slightly upset Tyler at the kitchen table alone.
As Tyler finished his dinner, and cleaned up the mess, he heard Josh arguing with someone in his room. Although, Josh’s phone was sitting on the kitchen counter and Tyler knew there was no one else in the room with him. Tyler simply sighed, and continued to clean up the kitchen.
4)
The fourth time something happened, Tyler was honestly pissed. He had been getting over a cold, and slept like the dead for most of the day. He ended up emerging from his room around 4:30 p.m. only to find their entire main room completely trashed. There were papers all over the room, the couch cushions were on the floor, there were shoes on the kitchen table, the chairs were knocked over, and Tyler stood and stared in disbelief. “Josh?!” he called out towards Josh’s room. The bedroom door slowly opened after a couple of minutes and Josh walked out timid. His face was red and his eyes were swollen; it was obvious he had been crying. However Tyler did not care because he saw red. “What the hell were you thinking?!”
Josh shrunk back under his intense stare, then whispered, “It wasn’t me.” Tyler scuffed, then replied angrily, “Cut the bullshit! I’m tired of always cleaning up your messes!” Josh felt like he was going to start crying again, “But it wasn’t me.”
Tyler ran his hand through his hair and breathed out of his nose, “Then tell me Josh, who was it? I’m really curious to know since we are the only ones here.” Josh did not respond so Tyler added, “Well?” Josh kept quiet, so Tyler huffed again, “Well you could at least help me clean up your mess.” Josh called out desperately, “I told you it wasn’t me! I didn’t do this!” Tyler harshly ran his hands over his face, “Fine! It wasn’t you.” Josh did start crying again, “You’re just saying that because you think I’m crazy, you don’t actually mean it!” Tyler lowered his voice and said as calm as he could, “Josh, I don’t think you’re crazy. And I do mean it. You say you didn’t do it, so you didn’t do it. I believe you. Okay?”
Lies. Lies. Lies. Lies. Lies. Lies. Lies. Lies.
Josh wiped his nose with the sleeve of his shirt, and nodded his head. “Okay.”
5)
The fifth time something happened, Tyler was fed up. He had had an unbearably long day and he was ready to settle down on his bed, with his ipad, and watch a movie. He took a quick shower, hearing Josh scream at himself the entire time, however Tyler was used to it by then. He then made his way into his room, got dressed, grabbed his ipad, and climbed into bed. He lifted up the foldable case on his ipad and his jaw hit the floor. The entire screen was shattered. Tyler stood up, threw his ipad onto of his bed, and stormed out of his room. He barged into Josh’s room and unleashed, “What the hell were you doing in my room?” Josh looked up at him scared, and opened his mouth to speak but Tyler beat him to it, “And I swear to God Josh, if you say you didn’t do it, I am going to strangle you!”
Josh could not help it when his eyes welled up with tears. Tyler continued, “I’m sorry if I’m being an asshole, but I’m tired of listening to you scream at yourself all night, and cleaning up your messes, and you breaking my stuff!” Josh choked out, “But I swear, it wasn’t me!”
Tyler was done by that point, “Yes it was Josh! It was you screaming at yourself, it was you who cut yourself, it was you who trashed the apartment, and it was you who broke my ipad! You’re not okay, and you desperately need professional help. I’m sorry, but I can’t help you myself.” Josh was shaking his head uncontrollably, “No! I’m not crazy! I’m not going back to the hospital! I’m not insane!”
Tyler shook his head sadly, “Josh, I’m sorry. You need to get help from a professional. You don’t deserve to keep living like this. You need help.” Josh was full on sobbing, “I’m not crazy! Why won’t you believe me?! Nobody ever believes me!”
“I’m sorry.”
+1)
Tyler was just getting home from work, and he was a little bit anxious to see Josh. It was going to be their first time seeing each other since the incident the night before, and something told him it would not go well.
Tyler could hear Josh yelling through the door, so he took a deep breath, unlocked the door to their apartment, and stepped inside. However, once inside Tyler stood frozen as he watched in disbelief. The curtains were being pulled down by an invisible force, the kitchen chairs were being thrown down, and silverware was being thrown onto the floor. Josh continued to scream in the direction the chaos was occurring, and Tyler tried to decide if he was dreaming or not. He took another step forward, and the chaos stopped momentarily. That was when Josh entirely freaked out, “NO! DON’T!! PLEASE NO!!” Tyler watched as four long scratch marks ripped through their couch, then Josh’s fear filled eyes traveled to him.
Tyler jumped as the apartment door slammed closed behind him, then all he could do was stare. However, he did not have much time to process what had happened, because Josh immediately moved in front of him. “I promise I’m not crazy! Please don’t send me away! I’m not crazy! I promise I’m not crazy! I don’t want to go back!” Tyler did not know what to feel, so he said the three words he had said so many times before, but for the first time ever, he actually meant what he said,
“I believe you.”