Year one, the next friend.

     "Joshie! Wake up! Mom said you're going to be late for school!" Josh woke up to his little brother yelling. He groaned and looked at the alarm clicking blaring its unpleasant sound.

"Jordan get off of me or I will kick you." Josh said irritatedly. His brother laughed and ran out. Josh groaned and rolled out of bed. He got dressed and walked out of his room to see his mom cooking eggs and pancakes.

"Good morning Josh! You ready for school?" His mom said cheerfully. Josh bit his tongue to prevent any snarky remark from spilling out of his mouth.

"'Morning." He replied bitterly.

Josh had been stuck in this fake town for well over two weeks. He knew that giving up was not an option when he thought about escaping this nightmare. Tyler wouldn't be proud if Josh gave up.

"Oh Josh, why don't you cheer up a bit? Think of all the great friends you're going to meet. Oh won't it be great?" His mom spoke like she was mocking a television white suburban mom. He rolled his eyes and grabbed his bag. He opened the door only to get yelled at right away.

"What the fuck do you want from me?" He yelled at his fake mom. She pouted, "Rules say that you can't leave before seven thirty am. It's seven fifteen, silly." Josh looked at her confused. "Now I have to call administration to mark you."

"Mark me?" Josh questioned, "What do you mean mark me? I'm not some fucking cow waiting to be branded and trapped-"

A man with a grey uniform, identical to his first day here, showed up and interjected, "Joshua come with me." The man held tight onto Josh's arm and led him through the halls. Josh remained silent and let the man drag him to their destination.

***

"First mark, isn't that a special one?" Josh was face to face with the cold hearted cloaked figure once again. His words and thoughts were choked up in the back of his throat. "Now we all know that you're rather new in town, Josh. That's why we're explaining the meanings of marks."

Josh watched as the man took out a long tool. The tool was a silvery color with a sharp point at one end. He dipped it into a thick black liquid. The tool looked like it absorbed the darkness and cloaked man held out his hand.

"Josh, give me your arm. Will you?" He said.

Josh hesitantly did as he was asked. The cloaked stranger stuck the tool just below his arm bend. Josh felt the sharp end poke him. He refrained from saying anything, he had a feeling that they did not care if he was comfortable with the feeling or not.

"There, now Mr. Dun." He spoke, "My name is Nicolas. I am one of the nine who look over Dema."

Josh gulped as his mouth had gotten increasingly dry. "Where is Dema exactly?" He asked watching Nicolas poke a defining one inch line onto his skin.

Nicolas wiped off the excess ink with a cloth that subtly smelled like a familiar chemical. "Dema is known as The Tower of Silence. Here we practice our religion. We bring in new citizens to pass down the memories of Zoroastrianism to others."

Josh stared at the thick dark tally on his skin. His stomach churned. "I'm sorry? Ziroretumo- what now?"

"Zoroastrianism. It's the oldest continuously practiced religion and we tend to keep it that way." Nicolas said.

Josh sighed, "Why am I here though? Surely there is someone else in this damn world that can be more useful to you in your religious thingy." He said, "And can I just point out the fact that you literally kidnapped me? My family is probably worried sick about me right now! I've been gone for what? Two- three weeks now?"

Nicolas stood up slowly and walked towards the end of the room with his scarlet colored robe trailing. "People forget, Josh. Just as people forget a few details of a religion. People can forget about Josh Dun." He nodded to the grey dressed men.

Josh knew that he could finally leave. "Oh and Josh?" Nicolas said suddenly, "These marks are warnings. You have four more. If you reach five you will be somewhere far worse than here." He warned. Josh did not like the sound of that.

***

The teenager stood staring at a large overwhelming wall that displayed dark engraved trails. It was a map. A very hard to read map. The compass rose was messed up, the cardinal directions were completely off. North and south was where East and West were and vice versa.

"Don't stare at the map too long. Here in Dema, east is up." A voice broke him out his confusion. He looked over to see the same girl that he had seen on his first day in Dema.

He looked around to see if the girl could possibly be talking to anyone but him. "I'm talking to you idiot." She laughed. She walked up to him and held out her hand. "Debby, Debby Ryan. I'm just down the hall from your place. If you're looking for the school, I'm heading the same way."

Josh quickly noticed three black lines on the girls forearm. He shook her hand and nodded shyly. Debby cocked her head. "I don't intend to sound rude but," she said, "are you... mute? Uncomfortable with talking? Can't talk? Just plain shy? I'm trying to be a friendly light in this dump."

Josh opened his mouth, he urged himself to speak since it appeared that he had embarrassed himself already in front of the girl. The very pretty girl. "Josh." He choked out, "I'm sorry I'm not used to talking to uh..." he looked at her as she smirked, "double X chromosome..." his cheeks felt as if they were on fire. If he could yell at a bus to run him over at this moment he would.

"Did you just call me a double X chromosome?" She laughed. Josh nervously laughed, "I like you, Josh. You're a cute XY chromosome."

Josh smiled down at his shoes. "C'mon this way." She gestured the way towards school. Josh followed her willingly.

"So Josh, where ya from? How'd you get stuck in Hell?" She asked.

Josh thought for a moment. The actual way on how he arrived here was still blurry in his mind. "I'm just from a small town in Ohio and my friend and I were running from something in a forest and uh then I woke up here."

Debby nodded, "Thats similar to me. I was skateboarding with my friends and we heard noises and thought nothing of it until we heard a scream. I've been here for about a year. My friends probably forgot about me by now."

Josh felt bad for the girl, "How can someone forget about you? I've known you for like five seconds and you seem way too amazing to forget."

Debbie blushed, "For someone who's not used to talking to females. You're making this girl's day a million times better." The two teenagers then walked towards their destination. 

Josh silently wondered how on Earth Tyler could build up the courage to talk to Jenna when they first met. Of course Tyler had a crush on Jenna. And Josh was just never good at socializing. 

Josh knew he needed to befriend Debby.It seemed was she was his only option for a normal friendship in Dema.

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