No One Does It Better

Oli's P.O.V

Nothing.

When I opened my door to my flat I expected to see the lights on, hear the low hum of the television, and to see Josh curled up on the couch asleep; but as I sunk into the room, I saw nothing.

“Josh?” I called as I walked towards our bedroom, perhaps he was sleeping. I opened the door quietly, still clutching the note in my hand as a bittersweet fear crept into my mind. The light was off, so I flicked it on; but I wasn’t prepared for what I saw, or more like what I didn’t see. Josh wasn’t in here, and his things…they were gone.

“Josh!” I yelled as I rushed to the bathroom, but it was empty too. I ran throughout the dining room and kitchen, but it was evident; he wasn’t here. His bags weren’t here, everything he owned was gone, and he...was gone too. I laid the note from my hand on the counter, and placed the one from my pocket right next to it.

“AND I'M SO SORRY…” I read aloud before sinking to the ground and letting out a ferocious scream, I quietly curled up on the kitchen floor. I murmured his name under my breath as I rocked back and forth, before a flash of anger came over me. Jona, he must have told Josh something to make him leave, but despite his fascination with Josh, there was no way he would have forced him out. I collected myself off of the floor, and walked solemnly back down to the lobby of my building, before hopping on the laptop stationed behind the counter. I signed into my bands twitter page and immediately searched for Josh’s name.

Josh Franceschi
The truth is a terrible thing. Don't you think?

Lyrics, I immediately recognized them as his lyrics, but why would he post them? He never did that…the truth…I signed off of the computer quickly and rushed back to my room to grab my keys, one thought raced in my mind, 'what exactly do you consider to be the truth, Josh?' I didn’t know, but as I hopped back into my van and started driving back to Max’s I was dead sure that I would soon find out.

-*-

Josh's P.O.V

"I know this may come as a shock, but I need some time to myself. I will be over for band practice but please don’t question where I have been or where I'm staying or I will leave. I love you all dearly, but please, don’t ask me questions. This is hard enough."

I hit send as I finished typing out the text to my band mates, who surely would be wasted and not check their phones till tomorrow.

“Last call for the train to Weybridge!” a tall man peeked his head out of the car, and roused me from my seat on the bench. I took one finally look around me, one finally look at London, before entering the car and handing off my pass which the man read and handed back. I thanked him before taking a seat by the back side of the car, sitting my bags down beside me. As a few stray passengers, and a loud group of girls made their way on the car, the door shut; and we were on the short journey to Surrey. I felt tears sting my eyes as I pulled my hat down over my hair, Oli flashed across my mind. I still didn’t know if what Jona told me was true or not, I had no way of knowing; Jona told me his parents were dead, and his brother had been missing for years…but was it true? I didn’t know, and I hadn’t stuck around long enough to find out. Not because I was afraid, but because I was scared of what was happening to us. I had been stupid to try to make things work between us, we had already been caught in a vicious cycle of doing the same things, over and over; and I would never allow him to know everything about me. Oli was perfect, he was a beautiful person, despite the rumors I had heard; but I was nothing of the sort, and I didn’t want to bring him down with me.

“Hey…are you alright?” I felt someone touch my shoulder lightly so I snapped my head up, and wiped the tears from my eyes before turning to look at them. He must have been in his early twenties, but had long dark hair with a fringe cut, he had a lip ring tucked on the left side of his lips, and a few tattoos on his neck that I could easily see. He reminded me of Oli for some reason, when in reality; they looked nothing alike. Oli was much thinner, while this guy was a bit more buff; Oli's hair was longer and lighter, his face sharper and more defined; but seeing anyone that reminded me of him was painful at this point.

“I'm okay,” I lied, as I wiped another tear from my eye, the stranger frowned.

“You don’t look it,” he muttered as he pointed at the empty seat beside me, save for my bags.

“May I sit with you?” he asked quietly, I stared at him for a moment before moving my bags to the floor.

“Go ahead,” I stated as I finished clearing off the space, he thanked me and slid in front of me before taking a seat.

“I'm Tyler by the way.” He extended his hand out, I stared at his hand, his knuckles on one side read “GAME” I shook his hand and introduced myself before raising an eyebrow, and he giggled at that.

“GAME OVER.” He stated with a laugh before placing his hands together and displaying them for me to see.

“Doesn’t that stuff hurt?” I questioned, suddenly feeling a bit better about being on this train, he shrugged.

“Yeah, kind of, but it’s worth it to me. You don’t have any?” he inquired as he relaxed his back on the window of the train, I shook my head.

“None, guess I'm scared too. Plus I don’t think I would look very good with a bunch of tattoos, some people; like you can pull it off.” And Oli, I thought to myself as I stared at my bare hands. I imagined his, his knuckles which so playfully read DROP DEAD, and all the goofy logos that bordered the top part of his fingers, the apple logo being my favorite. I missed him already, and I knew I would continue to miss him; but there was nothing I could do. I couldn’t do this to him, I couldn’t hold him back; and whether or not the rumor was true…I couldn’t be around him anymore. I’d get to close, and then he would leave; I knew he would.

“You look like you’ve got something on your mind,” Tyler stated calmly as he watched my face, which immediately fell to a frown.

“Yeah, just got a lot on my plate right now.” I explained as he nodded.

“I understand, well I won’t pry; and sorry I bothered you to begin with. I just didn’t like the look of a cute guy curled up in the back of the train car sobbing his eyes out.” He laughed slightly as my face heated up a bit, I shook my head.

“Nah, I'm okay though, really.” I smiled as I looked behind him and saw the sign in the tunnel that read “WEYBRIDGE CITY LIMITS”, a few moments later the train was at a halt.

“Well, Josh, it was really nice to meet you…” he smiled before fishing into his pocket and pulling out a business card which he handed off to me.

“Call me sometime, I’d like to see you again.” He gave me a hug before waltzing out of the car and onto the platform before getting lost in the crowds. I bit my lip as I grabbed hold of my bags and exited myself, my legs automatically carried me to the staircase to get back to the top side. I climbed the stairs as quickly as I could; I smiled when I reached the top of the stairs. It was night time, around 12 am or so, so my hometown was barely bustling. A few pubs were open, but other than that, it was quiet. I shuffled my feet down the familiar roads before cutting down an alley way, and hopping a small fence, finally I arrived where I had been coming to go. My dad’s house. As for why I was here, I don’t know; but after the years of lying and deceiving, I felt that I finally deserved whatever he brought to me. I had been so selfish, and It was time for me to face the consequences, I knew coming here was basically suicide; but in the end, I wasn’t afraid to die. I smiled for what I'm sure was the last time, before walking up the stairs, I fished my keys out from my pocket, hoping they still worked; miraculously, they did.

“Dad?” I called out as I laid my bags by the door, the television was on, the lights were on too, and the stench of beer was thick in the air.

“Freeze!” his gruff voice called, as he raised a gun, I wasn’t sure if he knew it was me at first, or if he was actually going to kill me.

“Dad…” I muttered and he lowered the weapon, before dropping it completely, what he did next took me by surprise. He hugged me,

“Josh, I've missed you son.” He patted me on the back as I awkwardly hugged him back; this was the first time this had happened in…well as long as I can remember.

“Dad…I'm sorry.” I cried as I sunk my head down onto his shoulder, this was all I ever wanted from my father; for him to actually love me. Because of him, I had horrible trust issues, I was horrible at doing everything people related…and I was scared I would turn out like him. Ultimately, and after much thinking, I was afraid I was going to snap on Oli; and I couldn’t hurt him again, so I had to hurt him for the last time.

“You son of a bitch! You left me to die!”

The shrill scream was something I wasn’t quite ready for, neither was the swift knee to my stomach, or for my body to fall back as I hit the floor. My dad smiled at me as he circled my body like some sort of vulture,

“You deserve to die!” he yelled as he kicked me once again, before delivering an uncountable amount of kicks to my stomach. I smiled as blood rose to my throat,

“I know.” I muttered as he kicked me again,

“Get up!” he shouted, I didn’t falter as I stood on my shaky legs, instead I smiled. This was everything I deserved, no, this wasn’t what I deserved at all…I deserved worse.

“Kill me, please.” I begged, as I stared directly into his eyes, he looked dumfounded.

“I came here so you could kill me; I don’t want to hurt anyone anymore dad…please help me stop.” I felt tears trickle down my face as I remembered how I had snapped at Oli. I was becoming a monster like my father, and I can't even recall the numerous times I had wished my dad was dead; Oli surely felt that way about me now. I didn’t go to Max’s party either, so surely; he wished I was gone too. Everyone probably did.

“You really want me to kill you?” my dad asked as he stepped closer to me, I nodded my head tiredly as the pain was becoming unreal.

“Answer me!” he yelled in my face,

“Yes.” I croaked back, never once letting my eyes break contact from his. He laughed before sending a punch directly into my throat; I stumbled back as the oxygen left my lungs for a second as I hit the ground, hard. He flew to the ground as well, this time to deliver as many blows to me as he could, minus my face, he would never hit me there. I laid there without screaming, I laid as still as I could and accepted my fate. I couldn’t stay here anymore, all I was doing was hurting everyone else, I was going nowhere but down, and I certainly didn’t want to return to fame. Whether it was with my band or solo, I was a bad example, so I couldn’t stick around. I spluttered up blood again, and just as soon as I was sure that I was dead, my dad came close to my face and eyed me viciously.

“I won’t give you the pleasure of dying. Go to your room.” I gasped as I felt fear come over me, he wasn’t going to kill me?

“Why don’t you kill me?” I yelled as I pushed myself to my feet, he shook his head.

“Room now or ill make you sleep in mine…” he purred as disgust fell over me, I numbly ran to grab my bags before fleeing up the staircase and into my old room, which still remained the way I left it. I sunk into my mattress and felt tears sting my eyes, in the pale light I could see a small tin that rested on my dresser. It was all I needed; I reached for it and slid the lid off before grabbing the lone object that laid inside between my fingers. A razor, but before I could even bring the object to my skin, I felt darkness cradle me, I was losing consciousness, and there wasn’t a thing I could do to stop it. I smiled as I let one last though lull into my mind, ‘and I'm so sorry.’ I truly was.