tyler rolled over, rubbing his eyes and grabbing his phone.

he looked at it with squinted eyes as he adjusted to the bright light.

8am

tyler was a halfway morning person. it took him a minute to way up but he liked being up earlier.

he yawned as he stretched his back out before standing up and heading to the bathroom to pee and brush his teeth etc.

he made his way to the kitchen, wearing shorts and no shirt as he started making himself some eggs, bacon and toast as well as coffee. he also made josh some.

ya know, the boy he has locked in his basement.

tyler looked at his list on his fridge as his eggs cooked.

to do:
laundry
finish work for the week
clean floors
groceries

he decided on starting his laundry first, and then groceries, cleaning, and then work.

he ate his breakfast before heading downstairs.

"you awake?" tyler asked.

"yeah." he heard josh say from his air mattress.

"want some breakfast?" tyler said, walking down the stairs and setting the plate down.

"yes please." josh said weakly.

tyler sighed, looking around. he had a lot to clean. he went over and grabbed his shirt from the corner.

he's killed, a lot in that shirt.

"how you feeling today?" tyler asked.

"like i've been kidnapped." josh said.

"good." tyler smiled. "i gotta go to the store, any dinner ideas?"

"i don't care." josh shrugged.

"alright, well i'll be back down later." tyler said, grabbing joshs empty plate and leaving the basement.

he threw his shirt in the washer along with his other clothes. he started it and then sat down to think of a grocery list.

tyler turned when he heard the news talking about one of his victims. the news reporter was explaining the profiling that the police have done.

single, male, mid 40s, probably has no criminal record, substance use issues, unemployed.

"not even close." tyler chuckled.

he went to the grocery store and grabbed stuff that he was low on, and items for dinner tonight. he decided on salmon.

"excuse me." tyler smiled, moving out of the way so an old lady could walk through. she smiled back.

he made his way back home, and then unpacked all of the groceries. he put them all away, before grabbing his cleaning supplies and heading back downstairs.

"clean up time." tyler huffed, looking over at the boy who was sitting up against the wall.

"did you drug me again?" josh asked. tyler slipped on some gloves.

"yeah. i was too tired to clean while you were out though." tyler said. he started with paper towels to wipe up any of the blood that may not be completely dry.

"did you burn her?" josh asked.

"yeah." tyler said.

"how do you do it without the smoke and the smell and everything?" josh asked.

"cant let you know all my secrets." tyler chuckled. "its a process. i got my ways."

he grabbed his mop, pouring some floor cleaner and bleach into his bucket of water. he began mopping, the red coating the mop head.

"how long have you been killing?" josh asked.

"full of questions today huh?" tyler said. josh letting out a weak smile. "about 5 years."

"h-how old are you?"

"32." tyler said. he rinsed the mop out.

josh didn't say anything, just watching as tyler grabbed his scrub brush and started scrubbing the floor.

tyler scrubbed for a while in silence, josh just watching. he finally got all of the mess cleaned up. he cleaned his tools in the sink.

"do you like salmon?" tyler asked. josh nodded. "okay good." tyler said. he left the basement without another word.

he looked at his watch, seeing the time was now 4pm. he decided to start on work.

tyler was a curriculum designer.

this means he worked with others to come up with teacher plans that help prepare students in the best way. he designed what to give teachers to teach to students. he worked from home.

he had a few projects to work on today, so he sat down at his apple desktop to do so.

he worked for about two hours, having a few zoom meetings with other designers.

tyler finished up for the day and shut everything down. he laid down on the couch and turned the tv on.

he took himself a little 30 minute nap and woke up to his timer he set. after he woke himself up a bit he went to the kitchen and started prepping dinner.

he made some rice, and then the salmon with a spinach sauce. he plated everything up onto two plates.

tyler heading downstairs with joshua's plate and a bottle of water.

"here you go." tyler said, handing josh his food.

"thank you." josh said, looking up at the man. tyler smiled.

"of course." tyler replied. he really made a good choice with josh.

josh dug into his food. tyler turned and started up the stairs.

"not gonna eat with me?" josh asked.

"why, you want me to?" tyler asked, chuckling a bit.

"the company is nice." josh shrugged. sitting with tyler was at least better than the deafening silence.

"sure. lemme get my food." tyler said, going to do so. he sat across from josh.

they ate together, mostly in silence. a few questions were asked here and there.

josh just wanted the company.