(Okay good)
Tyler returned to his original self, his shoulders slumping. He looked down at the floor, not meeting or even acknowledging that Lochlin was next to him.
You could’ve killed him. Do you really think that would’ve ended well for me?
My life mission is to make yours horrible. I should’ve killed him. Haven’t done that since..who was it? Ah yes, Jason.
Lochlin studied him with narrowed eyes, his playful stance and demeanour having evaporated like water left under the sun for too long.
"Was that the demon, back there?"
“Yes.” Tyler answered simply, clenching his hands behind his back in an attempt to keep them from shaking.
Don’t bring that up. That wasn’t my fault.
Oh I think it was. All you, Tyler.
"Oh."
Lochlin was silent for a whole ten seconds.
"Let's get you back up to your room."
Tyler didn’t respond, his eyes trained on the floor.
I know that was you. I wouldn’t have killed Jason.
How do you know that? You can’t even remember that day.
"Come on," he prompted gently, nudging Tyler towards the direction of the door.
Tyler nodded a little, walking slowly towards his room.
I don’t kill innocent people.
Whatever you say.
The demon chuckled a bit, leaving from his thoughts, for the moment.
"This is your room, right?" he asked once they'd arrived.
“Yeah, thanks..” Tyler said, opening the door gently.
Lochlin leaned against the doorframe, shutting his eyes and slowly, painstakingly shifting his bones and muscles back to their original shape. Biting back a choked gasp of pain, he let his hair slip back to its usual turquoise.
"Anything I can do for you?"
“Are you okay?” Tyler asked worriedly, looking up at him.
Lochlin gave a strained chuckle. "I'm—Fine. Shifting hurts, like I—like I said."
“Okay..if you’re sure..” Tyler walked over to the other side of the room and took the straight jacket from a table. “Help me with this.”
"You want to….. put that on?" Lochlin blinked, baffled.
“Yes. I’m done with hurting people today.” Tyler said quietly, frowning slightly.
And strangely, Lochlin felt his heart crack open, just the tiniest bit. "Tyler, no," he said softly, shaking his head. "Put that thing down."
“No. Just..please, help me with it.” Tyler said, his voice barely a whisper.
Lochlin carefully approached him and removed the straight jacket from his hands. “Sit down, Tyler. Please.”
Tyler sat down slowly, averting his eyes from Lochlin. “Why won’t you do this for me?”
“Because it’s not a favour,” he answered, sitting down on the bed next to Tyler.
“Yes it is. I don’t want to hurt anybody else. Including you.” Tyler answered.
(Good afternoon)
Lochlin drew in a deep breath. “I’ll be fine. And so will you.”
"You don't know that." Tyler huffed, standing up suddenly and walking over to the window, looking down towards the ground.
“And you don’t know that we won’t be. Listen, Tyler. You’re going to go insane in here if you can’t believe that it’s going to be okay.”
“I was already going insane. That’s why they put me in here, right?” Tyler responded, no trace of hope in his voice.
“I have no idea what you were like before all this. But you are going to die in here if you can’t believe it’s going to be okay.”
“I’m not going to die here.” Tyler said, a slight growl to his voice.
“There we go, our first spark of optimism.” Though Lochlin’s voice was dry, it was evident that he really did care to an extent.
“It’s not optimism. I never intended on dying, not yet.”
"Great. Works perfectly then." He stood, brushing off his trousers.
