day 40

the incident was now five days ago.

tyler had gotten everything cleaned up and disposed of from the basement and now josh was back in his home.

he had stayed the night after with tyler in his bed, and tyler cleaned up while josh was asleep. he allowed josh to stay out of the basement for a while, until he had to go to town.

now josh was just laying on his air mattress, continuing to read his books. he was so invested in it, he didn't even hear tyler coming into the basement.

"hey"

"oh, hey" josh jumped a bit.

"did i scare you?" he asked.

"a little." josh said, setting his book down.

"are you hungry?"  tyler asked.

josh nodded, looking up at the man.

"wanna come eat dinner? i made shrimp scampi and homemade garlic bread." tyler said.

josh nodded, mouth watering at the thought of another warm meal.

tyler squatted down and unlocked him. josh followed the man up the stairs.

he nervously followed tyler to the kitchen to grab his plate.

he filled it up and grabbed a fork, also grabbing the coke that tyler handed him out of the fridge.

"why are you letting me do this?" josh asked.

"well, you've shown i can trust you." tyler said, giving him a little smile.

josh nodded, slightly smiling.

"food good?" tyler asked after a little bit.

"mhm." josh nodded and smiled, continuing to eat his food.

-

they finished up eating, tyler cleaned up their plates after.

josh stood confused when tyler wasn't following him to the basement door. he looked over at him and he was walking to the living room.

"tyler?" josh asked.

"yeah? oh, yeah you can just hang out i got some work to do." tyler said as he sat down at his desk.

"uh. okay." josh said hesitantly.

he went over and sat on the living room couch. he glanced around, seeing the front door had locks on the inside. he turned back to tyler.

tyler smiled, now having a pair of glasses on.

another thing that reminded josh that tyler was a human.

"what do you do?" josh asked.

"i'm a curriculum designer." tyler said, josh watching as he opening up files and tabs.

"does that mean like schools?" josh asked.

"yeah, i help create like the lesson plans that need to be taught in school." tyler said. "i do highschool."

"oh." josh nodded. "so you're really smart."

"yeah, i'm pretty smart." tyler chuckled.

josh switched from watching the tv to watching tyler.

he noticed tyler bites his lip when he's thinking. he also noticed that he twists and pulls his hair.

he thought about that fact that these teachers have no idea that they're teaching the words of a maniac.

he thought about how he was probably taught some of the things tyler puts together.

"what schools is it for?" josh asked.

"all schools in ohio pretty much. it's not just me i do it with other people too." tyler said.

"ahh." josh said.

he sat and watched tyler and the tv until tyler finished up his work and led him back down to the basement.

"goodnight." tyler said, shutting the door as he left josh alone again.

he managed to give him a pretty okay day.