Tyed - Chapter 24: Chapter 24

Tyler wakes up to a feeling not unlike his cells being filled with radio static instead of DNA, his stomach acid being replaced with normal acid, and his brain being replaced with a hammer. He lays completely still so that that hammer doesn't rattle around.
Yep- didn't learn his lesson about not getting hangovers. He is very comfortable, though. And warm. Although sleeping in jeans has ruined that a bit.
He's in Colby's room. He only has a vague guess as to how he got to Colby's house from the Maribyrnong, but he remembers bits and pieces of the conversation they had, specifically that he'd tell Colby the truth within a month.
He groans.
"Morning, doll."
Tyler jumps, and it jostles his stomach, making bile rise in his throat. "Colby?"
"There's some water on your bedside table," Colby says, his voice coming from somewhere Tyler can't see. Tyler realises how parched he is when he hears that, finding the water and fumbling to down it all as fast as possible. He still feels sick.
"I'm sorry," Tyler calls out immediately, in the direction he heard Colby's voice from- he's either in the ensuite or the walk-in.
"What are you sorry for?" Colby responds, decidedly from the ensuite.
"Being a nuisance," Tyler calls back, touching his forehead like that'll make the pain go away. "You didn't ask for that."
"I don't care," Colby calls back. "I'm sorry for waking you up, probably."
"I dunno if you did," Tyler calls back. He watches the door as Colby comes back into the room with hair wet from a shower, naked. Tyler bites his lip. "Damn. If I didn't feel like fucking hell, I'd..."
Colby smiles way too softly at him. Tyler doesn't like how his heart melts- he can't get too close or too involved. "What would you do, Tyler?"
He might've said something, but he feels a turmoil in his stomach. "I gotta vomit," he says instead, stumbling to his feet; it aggravates everything, and Colby jumps out of the way as Tyler runs into the bathroom. He spots the sink first, and so he throws up into it.
"That bad?" Colby calls from the other room. Tyler turns on the tap- god, he hates vomiting- and cleans up the mess he made, as well as washing his face.
"I was one of the least fucked people there," Tyler answers through the wall.
"Where were you?"
It's a question asked innocently, and Tyler procrastinates going back into the room so that it's easier to hide his lie. Well, it's not a lie. It just feels like one. "Some of my friends." He'd consider them friends as of last night, even if barely.
"Nancy?"
Tyler won't trap himself in a lie. "No. I only met these people kind of recently." He has no reason to be worried, right? If Colby finds out who they are, that doesn't mean he'll discover his secret. It being kind of about Darkfilly Copse would be enough to get Colby not to worry about him.
Shit. Trey.
Tyler runs back into the room, searching Colby's sheets for his phone. "What time is it?"
Colby walks over to his bedside table and pulls out a watch. "It's only a bit before nine."
Tyler finally finds his phone; he has some text messages, but none from his mother or brother, or his stepfather. "Shit, alright. I'll be fine, then."
"Where are you going? And when?"
"I have to be at a place in Gem Varily by ten," Tyler tells him, coming over to his side. "And I probably should get Trey something small first. He said he had something for me, so."
Colby brushes Tyler's hair behind his ears. Tyler wrinkles his nose at the feeling. "I'll take you. I can get to work any time before twelve. I have work to do, but it's about what I get done, not when."
Tyler takes a deep breath and leans into the touch. He's very particular about how he wants to be held, but this is nice. "Thank you," he says.
Colby smiles faintly. "You're welcome. I don't think I have any clothes that fit you, though- and we don't have time to buy anything beforehand, so you'd have to wear that. Although we could go out after, if you'd like."
"Aren't you going to work?"
Colby shrugs. "It's a Saturday, and I'm kind of in charge. I have a meeting at 12 and, like, two documents to read. That's legitimately all I have to do today. I could pick you up after that if you want."
"Only if you want," Tyler says, leaning up to kiss him. This isn't what Tyler does. Yet he's doing it.
Colby gets dressed and takes Tyler to Gem Varily. The suburb's not that far out, but it is out of the way, and Tyler makes sure it's clear how much he appreciates Colby coming out this far for him. The whole drive Tyler's surprised how calm and normal this is. They talk in the car, get a quick breakfast as well as a small thing of chocolate for Trey, his hangover's starting to die down, and they've got each other laughing by the time they're on streets Tyler recognises from his teenage years. Although, when he drives past the house that's being built where Sandys' used to be, his laughter dies a little bit.
There's the fountain he went on his first date with Lachlen at- only a year or two ago. There's the shopping centre where he last spoke to Kevin- that one kills his laughter completely. Tyler can't run from everything forever, and Gem Varily's no Darkfilly Copse, but there are still memories he has of here that he doesn't want to dig up. It was heaven for a while, but Tyler ruined it just with his prescence.
"So this is where you lived since you were twelve?"
Six years; half the time he lived in Darkfilly Copse. But it's much more like home. "Yeah."
"You mentioned you didn't want me to meet your family," Colby says, "so I'll just drop you off, if you tell me where."
"It's not that I don't want you to meet my family at all," Tyler answers, still surprised he remembered that much, "or, honestly, even that it's too quick for you to meet them." Although it is that- Tyler doesn't want to introduce Colby, just for him to leave. Because he expects that to happen sooner or later. "It's more that I want a chance to talk to them first, because, well. As you know, there's some messy dynamics as-is. With this shit about my dad, I don't know when I will get a chance to talk to them. But I'm going to do my best." He looks over to meet Colby's eyes, and Colby smiles but shrugs.
"I don't mind," Colby says. "These things take time. I think we've both jumped in pretty quick, but it doesn't have to all be that fast, especially if it doesn't make sense to be. Now where am I going?"
Tyler almost forgot they actually have a destination in mind. "Uh, there's a left up here you have to take. Thank you again, so much. I mean it."
Colby reaches over and squeezes his hand. "This situation- it's going to be hard, you know? This is a way I can help, as small as it is. I don't know."
"I'll make it up to you," Tyler promises as the car stops, leaning over and kissing him.
Again, not what Tyler does.
Colby shakes his head and Tyler ignores him. "I'll text you later," Colby says instead, and Tyler gets out of the car without really wanting to. He clutches at the metal around his neck; it's comforting, in a way, to reach up and grab it. It doesn't do much but give him something to fiddle with, and a reminder that he's got something else in life besides the pain of his past.
Which he has to face now every time he sees his mother and brother's faces.
It looks like an apartment building, except there's two large glass doors to go through instead of one, and one of them is always shut at any given time, with a staff member needing to open them from the inside with a code. It's not a hard security measure to bypass if you're mentally all there, and it's not like residents aren't allowed out; it's moreso that some of them are prone to wandering and not knowing how they got where they went, or how to get back. Trey's allowed to go out and do whatever he wants as far as Tyler knows, although he's rarely comfortable going anywhere alone.
Tyler doesn't have to wait long before a lady in a pink sweater with a rainbow nametag pushes the button and lets him in. "You're Trey's brother?" she says with a smile. Maybe she recognises him, maybe she doesn't. He and Trey look similar enough that she could've figured it out on that alone.
Tyler nods curtly. "Yeah. Is my mum here already? And my stepdad?"
"Can you give me their names? And yours?"
"Carol and Saxon Sutterfield," he says. His mum had been so happy when she was able to take another last name, and throw aside their father's. "I'm Tyler Kristenssen."
Tyler would genuinely be happy to do the same. Not that he's truly thinking of marrying Colby after a week.
She goes over to a desk to check on that information, and Tyler looks around to see if he can find Trey. The front room has a bunch of couches around coffee tables in a little seating area, and a few tables with stacked-up chairs nearby. At one table, a woman in a wheelchair plays someone with a rainbow nametag, like the lady who let him in. At another table, a man's writing quickly and sloppily in a notebook; someone's sitting on the couch, watching one of those cartoons that seemed to be popular among both kids and adults.
"Ah, yes, Tyler. No, they're not here yet, but you're welcome to come and see Trey now if you like."
Tyler smiles at her. "That'd be good." He'd like a few moments with his brother before it all goes to shit. He's not sure how soon it'll go to shit, but it'll be sometime after his mother gets here.
"Alright. This way."
She doesn't really need to lead him; he knows which room is Trey's. Which probably means she doesn't recognise him and could tell they were related on appearance alone.
Which Tyler doesn't blame her for. She knocks politely on the door, and they hear a 'come in' before she pushes it open, and Tyler's met with someone close to a mirror image of himself. Not as close as it once was, however. When Trey stands to his full height, he's about an inch taller at six foot three, but he's slouching now. Trey's a bit heavier, too, but it suits the bigger frame they both have; Trey looks strong and well-built in the way a farmer might be, whereas Tyler's more lean. It's more of a lack of muscle on Tyler's part than anything else- he'll forget to eat some days and pile on garbage other days, although he's paid more attention to his diet now that he's with Colby. Tyler's always had his hair long his entire life, in perfect curls framing his face, whereas Trey's is buzzed short from the length it used to be. His curls were always more scraggly. Tyler used to get praise heaped upon his hair, and although it came from their father, he hasn't yet felt like he wanted to cut it- because every time he feels disgust and wants all that hair gone, he's reminded of the fact that his father's right about at least that much.
Other than those similarities, they almost look the exact same, at least genetically. They have the same watery blue eyes- their father's, instead of their mother's caramel brown- and strong eyebrows, high cheekbones. Trey's got dark circles under his eyes, though, incredibly noticeable even to Tyler, and Tyler always seems to notice the unevenness in his jaw. Tyler never knew if that was because of how often it had been broken, or not.
"Tyler," Trey smiles, reaching out and pulling his brother into a strong hug. Come to think of it, he wasn't this strong the last time Tyler saw him.
Tyler pulls back, patting his brother's arm. "Hey, Trey, I missed you. Have you been working out?"
Trey takes a step back, letting Tyler into his room. The lady closes the door behind them. "Yeah, Tyler, I- uh-" Trey blinks as he tries to force the words out. Tyler's used to it now, and it's leagues better than the whole year he was silent, or the time after that when he struggled to say even a few words. An interrupted sentence is fine. "I have, actually, yeah. I got some, uh, weights and I've uh. Been using them. It's good. Very good."
"You seem like you're in a good mood," Tyler says with a smile. His smile becomes fake as he recalls what Trey's going to learn soon. "What's been happening for you recently?"
"I've been- been thinking about going, uh. Going to Rosebud," he says. He looks distant, far off; he picks at dead skin on his fingers. It bothers Tyler, but he pretends it doesn't. "I had- I had a friend here who, uh, who was- who was a surfer, and I wanted to, uh, to learn how to surf."
Except, Tyler remembers with a nervous swallow, that their dad was getting out of prison in a few weeks. Tyler had no idea if they'd even get to go. The plans would probably at least be pushed back.
Unless they just ignored their father and let him rot, which is what Tyler desperately wanted to do. He'd happily surf while his father died of cancer.
A horrible thing to say if your father wasn't Tyler's father.
"That's really exciting," Tyler says, distracted, before pulling himself together. "I mean, that's really cool. I think I'd like to learn how to surf, too. We can surf together."
"Yeah," Trey nods slowly. "I, uh. Did Mum- Carol- Mum- uh...?"
Tyler knows what's tugging at his mind. "Mum." There was a while where Tyler refused to call her that, and he told Trey similar. "She prefers that."
"Uh, yeah, mum. Did she call you?"
Tyler's instantly nervous, fiddling with his hands. He has chocolate for Trey and he puts it down on the bed. "Uh. Yeah, why?"
"She said- she said- she said we might have to delay it, and, uh, said she'd say why now," he tells Tyler. Tyler's heart is in his throat. "Do you- do you know why?"
Shit shit shit shit shit. "No. I'm sure she'll tell us when she gets here."
Tyler's dreading the knock on the door. It's the next thing he hears.
---
"You really wanna burn my dad's shed for your present?" Kevin asks, eyebrows raised, as they're heading towards the shed itself. He accepted the premise, but seems to question it as it comes closer to actually happening. The night's cold without the fire, and the wind that blows through the trees also blows through Tyler's clothes.
"Yeah," Tyler shrugs. "It feels good to destroy bad things."
"Thank you!" Kevin throws his arms up to the sky, looking up at God like he has a fight to pick with him. He's a dark shadow against the stars. "My sister said I was crazy 'cause I said that, she said I was a psycho. But it does! Feel good!"
"Yeah!" Tyler agrees, careful to keep his enthusiastic agreement quiet enough to not wake up the whole of Darkfilly Copse. "A thing's bad and when you get rid of it it's less bad in the world."
"Problem is, people keep doing bad things and making more bad," Kevin scoffs. "And you can't burn things people do."
Tyler's breath hitches in his throat. The night before this was torture. "I wish you could."
"Well you can't," Kevin mutters. "But you can do good things. Every bad thing has a good thing you can do instead."
"What do you mean?"
"Like, instead of hitting someone, you hug them. Or something." They're generally looking at the ground where their feet walk, and at the forest all around them, but Kevin looks determinedly away from Tyler when he says that. Cricket sounds chirp in between words, and it smells like eucalyptus and ash. The ash has probably clung to Tyler's pants.
"But I don't want to hug the people who hurt me. They're bad, and I want to burn them."
"You mean your dad."
"Yeah, I mean my dad." Tyler kicks at the ground. "I don't wanna be who he makes me be."
"He does the things to you that my dad only does to my sisters, doesn't he? 'Cause you don't have no sisters. Not from your mum anyway."
"I dunno," Tyler shrugs. "Me and Trey are my mum's only kids. I don't care if my dad's got other kids not with my mum."
"Answer my question."
Tyler side-eyes him, annoyed. "How am I supposed to when I don't know what your dad does to your sisters?"
"Well he beats me. Emma says he does other stuff to her that hurts but it's different and it makes her feel disgusting. She doesn't say no more than that."
"Well then how'm I supposed to know what it is?"
"Well what does he do to you?"
"Why do you fucking care?"
"Hey!" Kevin raises his arms in protest as Tyler's fists close, tight by his sides, and they stop walking. "I'm just asking! Don't get mad at me!"
"Well-" Tyler stutters, unsure of why he responded so badly. "Well shut up and don't ask."
"I just wanna know, because-" Kevin stops himself as he looks around.
"Because what?"
"Because I just wanna know. We're here. This is his shed."
Tyler pulls the lighter out of his pocket and looks towards the small wooden construction Kevin's pointing at. It's at the other end of the yard from Kevin's house, near the edge of the forest. The shed is mostly wood; good. It'll burn well then.
"Well," Tyler says to Kevin, trying to shove the conversation they were just having aside, "help me. Let's get some kindling or something. This might take a while to burn."