The door buzzed loudly as it unlocked and the guard held it open for Tyler to walk through. The guard pointed to an empty chair at a table and Tyler sat in it, his knee bouncing nervously. His dad had called in a few favors so he could do this alone since he was still 16 but he was starting to regret it.

"He'll be in shortly," the guard told him and Tyler nodded before watching the man walk over to the wall and stand there. He tapped his fingers against his skinny jeans and glanced around the room he was in.

There were no windows and there was only one door which Tyler had just come in through. There was a vending machine in the corner of the room but it looked mostly empty. It was a Tuesday morning at 9:30 so he wasn't surprised when no one else was in the small room. Normally visiting hours only took place on Saturdays but this wasn't a normal situation.

Suddenly, the sounds door of the door being opened was heard and Tyler refrained from looking over, not sure if he could handle it just yet. The sound of footsteps echoed throughout the room and Tyler winced at the sound of the plastic chair in front of him scraping the floor as it was being pulled out. Metal clinking around the leg of the chair accompanied it as handcuffs were closed.

"Hi."

Tyler looked up and his heart stopped. He was expecting to be looking at his ex-boyfriend but the person looking back at him almost seemed like a stranger.

Josh's hair had been shaved completely and was his natural dark color. The nose piercing he had was gone and so were the plugs he had in his ears, leaving small holes. He had bags under his eyes and his face had hollowed out considerably.

Being in the visitation room with no one except for Josh and two guards made Tyler uneasy but Josh wasn't allowed around other prisoners. Death row didn't have that privilege.

"Hi," Tyler whispered, not knowing what to say.

"I can' believe you're here," Josh smiled slightly.

"Me neither," Tyler said in that small whisper again.

The two were silent for a moment after that and Tyler swallowed, feeling like he was going to cry. He didn't think he could do this.

"Ya took your nose ring out," Josh pointed out.

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"Because I couldn't handle having it in," Tyler replied simply.

"How have ya been?"

Tyler looked at Josh and almost laughed. How has he been? Fan-fucking-tastic. It's not like he was recovering from a million different traumatizing things. "Not good."

"'M sorry," Josh paused. "How's New York?"

Tyler's dad has driven them back down to Missouri so Tyler could do this. He was on his spring break so it didn't inconvenience him at all. He couldn't afford to miss any more school if he wanted to pass his sophomore year. The only reason Josh knew he had left was because they had spoken on the phone one time when Josh was first transferred.

Josh had been moved to a prison in St. Louis to serve out his sentence and he would get moved once more when he was executed. Tyler already knew all this from his father but it's not like it hasn't been all over the news the past few months either.

"Good," Tyler nodded. "I like it there."

"I'm glad," Josh smiled. One of the hands that was resting on the table reached out to hold Tyler's but the brunette flinched away.

"Dun!" One of the guards shouted. "No touching!"

Josh didn't reply to the guard as he slid his hand back to himself. "Sorry. I jus' missed ya," he said to Tyler.

"We aren't dating anymore," Tyler reminded in a low voice. "You can't just reach for my hand anymore."

"Oh right."

Silence fell over the two again but Josh was once again the one to break it. "Do ya know anythin' about the others?"

Tyler sighed. "Brendon's in Jefferson City, Ashley's in Springfield, and Dallon got transferred to Utah so his family could visit."

After Brendon and Josh had gotten arrested Tyler found out the whole reason they were caught in that moment was because Ashley had turned herself in and told them what Brendon had told her he was going to do. She also confessed that Dallon had helped as well and right when he was about to be released on parole he was thrown right back in.

All four of them had pleaded guilty and all four of them had been given death sentences. That's what happened when your murder count was a total of 54 people but a suspected 89. They still hadn't found 35 bodies.

Tyler could see Josh knew the question annoyed him so the older backtracked. "What specifically is good about New York?"

"I don't know..." Tyler trailed off. "I'm still in all honors classes but the people in Rochester are actually smart so I'm getting the curriculum I need."

"Any friends?"

Tyler nodded. "Yeah. There's a kid in my grade. His name is Conan. He's in my English class and we're pretty close. And there's a girl named Bea who Conan introduced me to. We all hang out a lot."

"Are ya alright? Ya seem a little... I don' know... robotic."

Tyler looked back up at Josh. "I took double the antidepressants today and popped an anxiety pill twenty minutes before I came in."

"Antidepressant?" Josh raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. People tend to get depressed after they've been kidnapped and they find out the person they were in love with turned out to be a serial killer. Plus smoking causes depression too. My therapist is helping me quit but it's hard."

"Can I ask ya a question?"

"You can ask I might not answer."

"When we were all there, in Brendon's basement, 'nd he told ya that ya had ta pick either me or your dad... who were ya goin' ta pick?"

Tyler froze, not expecting that question. He figured Josh deserved to know though. "My dad," he answered honestly.

Josh's eyes widened. "Why him 'nd not me?"

"If Brendon was right I didn't want him to be the one to kill my dad. He would've put him through Hell. At least if I would've done it I don't know it would have been over quick. Besides if I had to carry the burden of murder on my shoulders for the rest of my life I figured you'd make it feel normal just like you made all the other fucked up shit I did normal."

"Oh," Josh nodded. "I don' know how ta feel about that."

"Neither did my therapist," Tyler replied in a monotone voice. He paused for a moment, thinking about the question burning in his mind. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why did you do any of it? Why did you kill the people you did?"

"It made me feel powerful. It was havin' control over somethin' for once in my life. Some of the people we killed got on my bad side, others were just innocent. My brain doesn' work like normal people's, Ty. 'M fucked up. Insanely. I knew it was bad but I didn' care 'cause the high I got from it was so much it just kept me goin'."

Tyler took a deep breath. "I want to leave. You disgust me."

"Wait, Tyler," the brunette was about to get up but he stopped, figuring he'd hear what Josh had to say. He wouldn't be coming back so might as well get all the information he could.

"What?"

"I still love ya. I do. 'Nd I see somethin' different in ya. I see potential," he began. "I need ya ta continue this for me. I need ya ta keep my legacy goin'. I know ya can. I've seen a different side of ya. I believe in ya."

Tyler blinked. "That's it," one of the guards walked back over. "You're done. Your ass is going back in solitaire you sick freak."

The other guard led Tyler out of the room and the 16 year old hurried out, not once looking back at Josh.

The whole time he went back through security and recollected his things he felt numb. Unbelievably numb.

"Ready?" His dad asked once Tyler reached the front of the prison. Tyler just nodded.

However, as he walked back out to the car with his dad he couldn't help but think.

He couldn't help but think about the bug that Josh had just planted in his head.