A few days have passed, and Josh was yet to tell Tyler about Spooky Jim. Not that he didn't care or didn't want to admit that Jim might not be imaginary as Tyler said, but rather because he felt threatened by Spooky Jim's existence. He felt afraid whenever Jim was around. And even though he acted tough and angry on the outside, there will always be a tender, vulnerable heart that's inside him, no matter what. Along with his fears and worries that started from his anxiety.

Those things made Josh become a shyer person than ever, he was like a five-year-old being stuck inside the torso of a twenty-six-year-old man. He wasn't the most talkative and was hard to get, and had the habits of hiding behind his mom when going outside. He couldn't even drive his own car without the watch of Tyler or his dad, in fear that he might pull the steering wheel and purposely crash into something. And, funny, whenever he walked behind Tyler, in records stores or malls, he would always grab the hem his best friend's shirt, holding onto it tight and never letting go.

And this time was the same, Josh followed Tyler on the street like a toddler, holding a fistful of his shirt. Tyler didn't seem bothered when people looked at them, judging, in fact, he ignored them.

"Josh," Tyler said, suddenly stopping and causing Josh to almost hit his face into his back. He pointed to the left, on the other side of the road, where there was a small convenience store. "There, I'm gonna go buy something."

"Buy what?" Josh asked, hot on Tyler's tail as he unapologetically crossed the road without any warnings.

"Oh, I'm just gonna look over them liquors," Tyler replied with a straight face as he opened the door and stepped inside, immediately being greeted with a cool blow of the air conditioning.

"What?!" Josh nearly yelled, frantically. "Tyler, you practice Christianity!"

"Jeesh, calm down, Jish, I'm only kidding," Tyler laughed. "And, you puppy, there's nowhere in the Bible that tells you you can't drink, it only warns you about the effects of alcohol. Besides, I got no reasons to drink, I would never drink away sadness." Upon saying so, Tyler brushed Josh's hand off his shirt and pulled the boy over to the candy aisle, while he walked over to the chewing gums section.

Josh's gaze didn't leave his friend until he was completely out of sight. Only then, Josh would hunch low, avoiding the eyes of the female cashier, and start to go through the mounds of candies and chocolates. He picked up a Mars bar, and a giant Reese's, but then dropped them both. He has found Oreos, something that he liked more than anything else, and decided to buy it.

When Josh stood up, he accidentally made eye contact with the cashier, the only thing that he was trying his best not to do. She was looking pretty dang cute, with her dirty blonde hair tied up in a high ponytail, large blue eyes that were so mesmerizing and capturing and the prettiest lips ever. And, without a warning, those lips curled into the prettiest smile Josh has ever seen. He felt so flustered, instantly turning away in fear that she might see him blushing.

"Tyler," He quietly called, striding along the aisles to find Tyler. He got to the chewing gums section, but didn't find the egghead. As his fear grew, Josh took a few steps forwards - also the liquor section - but didn't see anyone else but himself, even though he thought that he might find Tyler there. Eventually, he got to the very back of the store, where there weren't much candies or anything interesting to begin with.

Tyler was standing there, in front of the shelves of cigarettes. He was silent, not saying anything at all, but be was swaying back and forth. He looked a bit too relaxed, too relaxed to be considered normal. He wasn't smiling, but wasn't frowning either. But only shortly after, Josh began to notice that he was mumbling something. Josh stared at him for awhile, trying to think of whatever the hell might be in Tyler's head.

The mumblings got louder and louder by the minute, and Josh could hear parts of what Tyler was saying: "... Tonigh... and tomorrow's night.... nobody will ever know what you're doing to me, so what's the point....?"

Josh got nearer and grabbed his wrist. "Tyler, you ok-"

"NO!" Tyler suddenly screamed, making Josh have to jump back. "No! Leave me alone! Tell him to fuck off!"

"Tyler, what...?" Josh was terrified, he couldn't even come closer for the second time. "Who? Who are you-"

"Blurryface..." Tyler burst into tears, cowering down down and curling up into a ball. He wrapped his arms around his own body, as if trying desperately to protect himself. His shoulders trembled, and he collapsed onto his knees. Without a word, he leaned down until his head almost touched the floor, one hand feeling it.

Instinctively, Josh held his hand out, and nearly fell back when Tyler yanked at it. He squeezed it so hard, that his knuckles turned whitish. "Ty... are you okay?"

"Hey," Josh looked up, and it was the girl with the pretty smile. She looked even more beautiful up close, and her blue eyes looked like they could have held the entire sky. She leaned down a little, putting her hand on Tyler's shoulder, who was panicking so bad that he might just pass out. Ever so gently, she looked at Josh as if to say 'I can handle this' before snaking her arms around Tyler, making him look at her. And she spoke, softly with her velvety voice: "Inhale..."

Tyler did as he was told.

"... Exhale."

Tyler did so.

The girl hugged Tyler gingerly. "Everything's okay, you got your friend and I. It's okay." She placed both hands on either sides of Tyler's face, lips forming an angelic smile. "Everything's fine, you're safe."

Tyler stared at her for a quite some time, before he seemed to jolt awake, and blush red from his chin to his ears. "I'm safe."

|-/

"Thank you so much, Jenna. I wouldn't know how to handle this if not thanks to you." Josh told Jenna - the name of the girl with the pretty smile. He ruffled his already-messy hair, glancing over at his best friend, who lay in starfish position on the floor after being granted the ultimate permission from Jenna. "Usually, he's the one to calm me down after every panic attacks, so I never really prepared myself for this. Even if it happens, I thought that it'd be somewhere more private, but this, if it wasn't for you I'm just gonna cry."

"Jesus," Jenna laughed, tucking piece of hair behind her ear. "You two are so adorable." But then she looked at Tyler, who was now looking back at her and Josh judgmentallty. "Still, are you sure that Tyler's okay?"

"I dunno either. He never tells me when he and his 'demon' is fighting, except this one time when he broke up with his girlfriend..." Josh said, lowering his voice this time. "He doesn't like to talk about these kind of stuff, so I don't know. He's usually so happy, can't predict it."

Jenna nodded. "Right, but I think you should talk to Tyler."

"Sure." Josh said. "Anyways, thank you so much. Ty-"

"Wait! Lemme right down my number for you two," Jenna declared, scribbling down on a piece of paper note that she got from her shirt pocket. "Call me whenever you need me, I answer every calls 24/7."

"Oh, thanks," Josh sheepishly said, before picking Tyler up by his armpits. He walked to the door, before turning around and waving goodbye. "See you some other time!"

"Yeah, see you later!" Jenna smiled.