Disclaimer: I do not own Guster or their song "Come Downstairs and Say
Hello". Could someone buy them for me? PLEASE?! (especially Brian?!-the
drummer) Oh, and don't own TFATF.
Also, I apologize to anyone who has been anticipating an update to any piece of fiction/ fan fiction- I'm in the process of moving. Grotty. ***
Dorothy moves to click her ruby shoes Right in tune with the dark side of the moon Someone, someone could tell me Where I belong Be calm be brave it'll be ok
"Jesse where is he?" asked Dom, tapping Jesse on the shoulder. "Jess, Jesse, where is he? Where's Tyler?"
Jesse continued staring at the phone in his hands, not saying anything, his mouth still moving over the last thing Tyler had said to him- 'please. Please help'. What he wanted to say back- 'I will. I will. I will.' Dom shook Jesse's shoulder, spinning him to face him, more or less, Jesse's eyes, his head still drifting back to the receiver. "Jesse! Wake up! Concentrate! Where's Tyler!" Mia was going in now. "Where is he Jesse?" Letty and Vince. "JESSE!" Mia slapped Jesse then and he woke up, his head stopped ringing from the beep and started stinging from Mia's hand's impression.
No more messing around and living underground And new years resolution By this time next year I won't be here I turn on MTV, the volumes down Lips move they say It'll be ok
"He's-his dad, his dad showed up. He hung up the phone but I think. Tyler thinks he's gonna kill him. Knows he is. Tyler, he just said he was, there were lots of abandoned buildings, no street lights. that's all he got out."
"Jesse that's seventy five percent of the city! How are we going to find him?" asked Letty sounding panicky, and that was strange to Jesse's ears, that got through because Letty never sounded panicky, not when they were lifting cars, not when she was racing, not when there was the oil fire that almost burned down the shop. Not then. But now.
"I don't know!" Jesse spun away from Dom's grip and Mia's pull on his arm and everyone's eyes and grabbed his car keys, grabbed them and headed for the door.
"Jesse wait!" Letty grabbed the back of Jesse's shirt, pulling back.
"I'm looking for him! I don't care if I drive forever through this city- I'm finding him! I'm not letting him die; I'm not letting anything happen to him!"
"OK- got your cell?" Dom flipped him his own when Jesse shook his head no. "I'll call Brian- see what he can do. Maybe get the cops looking. Jesse, where do you think Tyler would be?"
"Maybe, some place he thinks is safe, if he can run away. The shop, parks. He likes music stores, tattoo parlors. Clinics. Shelters maybe. But he said his dad could find them there so I don't know; don't think he would go there. He might head here but I don't know, he sounded scared, weak, like someone had been beating the shit out of him for the past 3 days.
To tell you the truth I've said it before Tomorrow I start in a new direction One last time with these words from me I'm never saying them again And I shut the light And listen as my watch unwinds
"And someone probably has! I need to help him. I'm going!" Jesse finished, turned again and ran out the door, this time no one stopping him.
Dom went over to the phone and Letty and Mia headed for their own cars, Vince climbing into Letty's, with their own phones in hand, starting out a triangle of searching. "Brian?"
"Mia? Why are you calling here?"
"I need your help. Are you at work?"
"Yes. What's wrong Mia?"
"Tyler called. Jesse and Letty and Mia are out looking for him, and Letty is dropping Vince off at the shop so he can grab a bike. His dad is going to kill him Brian! You need to get the police on this!"
"Mia I can't. I can't get off from work. You know how the guys here are. Slave drivers."
"BRIAN! TYLER WILL DIE IF YOU DON'T DO SOMETHING!"
"There's nothing I can do Mia to help you until I get off shift!"
"What about his dad, what about his uncle- that's a police thing! He's got his record!"
"That would be juvenile department for his record and I know for a fact that they're overworked, they can't spare anyone, they'll refuse to. And about his dad and what he's wanted for, that's child services."
"What if I give myself in? Brian, tell your damn superiors that I'll go to jail for the thefts if they get every man they have out there!"
"No Mia that won't be necessary. You said he called?"
"Yes."
"Then we'll check the phone records. Keep your cell phone on." As Brian turned off the phone Dom could hear him yelling at the officers, barking. Dom chose not to recognize the tone in his voice as similar to his own, instead running out the door, hoping it slammed shut and locked behind him.
To tell you the truth I've said it before Tomorrow I start in a new direction I know I've been half asleep I'm never doing that again
******** (later)
Jesse parked his car at the end of another block, ran up and down it screaming, "TYLER! TY! TYLER! TY! TY! TYTYTYTYTYTYTYTY!" He sprinted back to his car, ready to drive one block over when he noticed his cell phone was beeping. "Yeah?"
"Jesse, where've you been?" Mia. It was Mia.
"Looking!"
"You should have kept your cell on- they traced the phone call." Mia gave him the address and numbly he realized he was close by, 3 blocks off.
"I'm near by- I'm going."
"K. We'll meet you there." Jesse just hung up, drove down a new street that looked exactly like the ones he had seen before, parking his car, he thought he parked his car, and began searching. Up and alley, down an alley- he only had two left, maybe he'd go back and search the buildings- then he saw more headlights, came out of the alley to Letty, Mia, Dom pull up. Dom rolled down his window as Jesse ran over.
"Cops are sweeping around this section and have everyone out on patrol looking. Vince and Brian are searching back by the house and the shop and Brian and I called some racers- they're checking the parks. Alright so Mia, you and Jesse- you've done the alleys?"
"Yeah. But not the buildings."
"Alright, Letty and me will go after you recheck and look in the buildings, and you and Mia finish the alleys and then go on to the next block. Keep your cell on, with you. Call Brian if you find anything, clothing, his bag, alright?"
"Yeah, ok. Mia?" Jesse jerked his head; she nodded. They headed off.
I look straight at what's coming ahead And soon its gonna change in a new direction Very night as I falling asleep These words repeating in my head
They moved on opposite sides of the alley, checking impossible spots, under boxes, through muck, Jesse shoved his hands through a decaying dumpster and just wiped the remaining refuse off on his pants without thinking or caring. He started to move on and then noticed a small pile of clothing next to the dirty metal. He knelt down to touch them and felt wetness, felt skin. "Tyler?"
The pile stirred and lifted a head. "Jesse?"
"Tyler, what happened to you?" Even in the shadows, even at midnight, Jesse knew there shouldn't be so much blood everywhere, that that blood should be in Tyler, not out of him, that's what arteries are for. That's what veins and skin and.. That's. that's..
"Jesse?" Tyler's quiet, defeated voice cracked slightly, his eyes that looked like little sparks, little dying spitfires in the dark, closed and his head started to fall back. Jesse shoved his hand between the skull and the wall, cradling Tyler's head in his hands, Tyler leaning a little against him, his shoulder pushing against Jesse's chest. Jesse moved so he was closer to Tyler, cradling him, trying to hold Tyler together.
"Mia! MIA!" Tyler winced at the sound, the loud voice.
"Please, Jesse.. Go.."
"What?" Jesse shoved his ear by Tyler's mouth to catch the wet words, feeling spit and what he hoped was spit hitting his ear, catching the words that Tyler whispered, his voice breaking with static.
"Go. he's gonna come back. he has a gun. go.. Please.."
"No Tyler, I'm not going to leave you. You're coming with me or I'm not going at all." Jesse turned his head and noticed just how hazy his eyes looked up close- fading, he was fading fast. Then Mia was there and she was running her fingers over Tyler's face and over his chest, under Tyler's shirt and Jesse knew she was trying to be gentle and she was trying to be careful and she was checking to see how bad he's hurt but when Tyler moaned out because she rubbed her thin fingers against a mass of sore flesh Jesse couldn't help but snap, "be careful." And Mia understood how worried he is so she didn't say anything. Jesse arranged his legs so Tyler was almost sitting in his lap now, Jesse holding Tyler in an embrace.
Voices calling from a yellow road To come downstairs and say hello Don't be shy just say hello
She didn't touch Tyler's arm though and neither did Jesse because he could tell by looking at it and the way it rested against the ground that it was broken, something in there was not where it was supposed to be, it didn't take 3 years of nursing school Jesse didn't have to know that no one's wrist should bend that way and stay there.
Mia yanked out her cell phone and dropped, cursed softly and then louder again as she waited for it to turn back on; Jesse muttering nonsense words, phrases, list of car parts and cars he had worked on to Tyler, tried to get Tyler to stay awake, alive because Jesse wasn't sure if Tyler would wake up again if he let him fall asleep. Tyler just whimpered slightly, shook a little. Mia barked out where they were, told Dom to bring his car, and started dialing Brian. They both turned when they heard footsteps at the end of the block, Jesse craned his neck around the trash, looking to see Dom. Wasn't Dom though.
To tell you the truth I've said it before Tomorrow I start in a new direction I know I've been half asleep I'm never doing that again
A man, built like a football player stood there instead, gun in hand. "Who? Thought I made it so you couldn't talk!" Jesse heard the voice and it hit the memory, the description he knew of Tyler's father, of the night when he first met Tyler- the rusty voice that Jesse associated with cigarettes and years of too much whiskey.
"Dad," said Tyler softly, making a statement in a conversationalist tone, no fear no apprehension but his voice no louder than before, and Jesse heard him only because no one else was making a sound except for Brian who was asking for Mia, yelling into the phone, asking if everything was ok.
"You two, get out of here. This does not concern you. Lave the little shit and go."
"No," said Jesse, keeping one arm wrapped around Ty, shielding him.
"Jesse," said Tyler. "Go, I'll be fine."
"No." The man, Jesse couldn't think of him as Ty's father, laughed. A short laugh and then stepped forward, pushed Mia who stood there shocked- she hit the ground, her cell smacking against the pavement and making a cracking noise. He shoved Jesse off, Jesse's arm dragging Tyler almost on top of him, Tyler gasping at the pain of moving and pressure on injuries. The man pushed a gun against Ty's ear, kicked him in the ribs then again and again, stepped on Tyler's arm, the busted one, and was rewarded with a short scream. Shoving the gun back against Tyler's ear, he turned to Jesse who had started to stand up, after catching a few of the kicks, holding out a hand to shove himself between Tyler and his father.
"Go. Or I shoot him."
"Not quite," said Dom, walking in, a gun in his hands, a slightly larger gun than the one in Ty's father's hand. Jesse heard a siren coming closer, another siren slightly off, then a third- forming a bizarre round, pulling in closer.
I look straight at what's coming ahead And soon its gonna change in a new direction Every night as I falling asleep These words repeating in my head
Tyler's father dropped the gun, which was holding Tyler upright and Jesse had to dive forward and scrape his hands and wrists along the ground to catch him and hold him in his lap and Jesse was pretty sure he was holding Tyler together, it wasn't just the cloth Mia was ripping off her shirt, off Jesse's.
Also, I apologize to anyone who has been anticipating an update to any piece of fiction/ fan fiction- I'm in the process of moving. Grotty. ***
Dorothy moves to click her ruby shoes Right in tune with the dark side of the moon Someone, someone could tell me Where I belong Be calm be brave it'll be ok
"Jesse where is he?" asked Dom, tapping Jesse on the shoulder. "Jess, Jesse, where is he? Where's Tyler?"
Jesse continued staring at the phone in his hands, not saying anything, his mouth still moving over the last thing Tyler had said to him- 'please. Please help'. What he wanted to say back- 'I will. I will. I will.' Dom shook Jesse's shoulder, spinning him to face him, more or less, Jesse's eyes, his head still drifting back to the receiver. "Jesse! Wake up! Concentrate! Where's Tyler!" Mia was going in now. "Where is he Jesse?" Letty and Vince. "JESSE!" Mia slapped Jesse then and he woke up, his head stopped ringing from the beep and started stinging from Mia's hand's impression.
No more messing around and living underground And new years resolution By this time next year I won't be here I turn on MTV, the volumes down Lips move they say It'll be ok
"He's-his dad, his dad showed up. He hung up the phone but I think. Tyler thinks he's gonna kill him. Knows he is. Tyler, he just said he was, there were lots of abandoned buildings, no street lights. that's all he got out."
"Jesse that's seventy five percent of the city! How are we going to find him?" asked Letty sounding panicky, and that was strange to Jesse's ears, that got through because Letty never sounded panicky, not when they were lifting cars, not when she was racing, not when there was the oil fire that almost burned down the shop. Not then. But now.
"I don't know!" Jesse spun away from Dom's grip and Mia's pull on his arm and everyone's eyes and grabbed his car keys, grabbed them and headed for the door.
"Jesse wait!" Letty grabbed the back of Jesse's shirt, pulling back.
"I'm looking for him! I don't care if I drive forever through this city- I'm finding him! I'm not letting him die; I'm not letting anything happen to him!"
"OK- got your cell?" Dom flipped him his own when Jesse shook his head no. "I'll call Brian- see what he can do. Maybe get the cops looking. Jesse, where do you think Tyler would be?"
"Maybe, some place he thinks is safe, if he can run away. The shop, parks. He likes music stores, tattoo parlors. Clinics. Shelters maybe. But he said his dad could find them there so I don't know; don't think he would go there. He might head here but I don't know, he sounded scared, weak, like someone had been beating the shit out of him for the past 3 days.
To tell you the truth I've said it before Tomorrow I start in a new direction One last time with these words from me I'm never saying them again And I shut the light And listen as my watch unwinds
"And someone probably has! I need to help him. I'm going!" Jesse finished, turned again and ran out the door, this time no one stopping him.
Dom went over to the phone and Letty and Mia headed for their own cars, Vince climbing into Letty's, with their own phones in hand, starting out a triangle of searching. "Brian?"
"Mia? Why are you calling here?"
"I need your help. Are you at work?"
"Yes. What's wrong Mia?"
"Tyler called. Jesse and Letty and Mia are out looking for him, and Letty is dropping Vince off at the shop so he can grab a bike. His dad is going to kill him Brian! You need to get the police on this!"
"Mia I can't. I can't get off from work. You know how the guys here are. Slave drivers."
"BRIAN! TYLER WILL DIE IF YOU DON'T DO SOMETHING!"
"There's nothing I can do Mia to help you until I get off shift!"
"What about his dad, what about his uncle- that's a police thing! He's got his record!"
"That would be juvenile department for his record and I know for a fact that they're overworked, they can't spare anyone, they'll refuse to. And about his dad and what he's wanted for, that's child services."
"What if I give myself in? Brian, tell your damn superiors that I'll go to jail for the thefts if they get every man they have out there!"
"No Mia that won't be necessary. You said he called?"
"Yes."
"Then we'll check the phone records. Keep your cell phone on." As Brian turned off the phone Dom could hear him yelling at the officers, barking. Dom chose not to recognize the tone in his voice as similar to his own, instead running out the door, hoping it slammed shut and locked behind him.
To tell you the truth I've said it before Tomorrow I start in a new direction I know I've been half asleep I'm never doing that again
******** (later)
Jesse parked his car at the end of another block, ran up and down it screaming, "TYLER! TY! TYLER! TY! TY! TYTYTYTYTYTYTYTY!" He sprinted back to his car, ready to drive one block over when he noticed his cell phone was beeping. "Yeah?"
"Jesse, where've you been?" Mia. It was Mia.
"Looking!"
"You should have kept your cell on- they traced the phone call." Mia gave him the address and numbly he realized he was close by, 3 blocks off.
"I'm near by- I'm going."
"K. We'll meet you there." Jesse just hung up, drove down a new street that looked exactly like the ones he had seen before, parking his car, he thought he parked his car, and began searching. Up and alley, down an alley- he only had two left, maybe he'd go back and search the buildings- then he saw more headlights, came out of the alley to Letty, Mia, Dom pull up. Dom rolled down his window as Jesse ran over.
"Cops are sweeping around this section and have everyone out on patrol looking. Vince and Brian are searching back by the house and the shop and Brian and I called some racers- they're checking the parks. Alright so Mia, you and Jesse- you've done the alleys?"
"Yeah. But not the buildings."
"Alright, Letty and me will go after you recheck and look in the buildings, and you and Mia finish the alleys and then go on to the next block. Keep your cell on, with you. Call Brian if you find anything, clothing, his bag, alright?"
"Yeah, ok. Mia?" Jesse jerked his head; she nodded. They headed off.
I look straight at what's coming ahead And soon its gonna change in a new direction Very night as I falling asleep These words repeating in my head
They moved on opposite sides of the alley, checking impossible spots, under boxes, through muck, Jesse shoved his hands through a decaying dumpster and just wiped the remaining refuse off on his pants without thinking or caring. He started to move on and then noticed a small pile of clothing next to the dirty metal. He knelt down to touch them and felt wetness, felt skin. "Tyler?"
The pile stirred and lifted a head. "Jesse?"
"Tyler, what happened to you?" Even in the shadows, even at midnight, Jesse knew there shouldn't be so much blood everywhere, that that blood should be in Tyler, not out of him, that's what arteries are for. That's what veins and skin and.. That's. that's..
"Jesse?" Tyler's quiet, defeated voice cracked slightly, his eyes that looked like little sparks, little dying spitfires in the dark, closed and his head started to fall back. Jesse shoved his hand between the skull and the wall, cradling Tyler's head in his hands, Tyler leaning a little against him, his shoulder pushing against Jesse's chest. Jesse moved so he was closer to Tyler, cradling him, trying to hold Tyler together.
"Mia! MIA!" Tyler winced at the sound, the loud voice.
"Please, Jesse.. Go.."
"What?" Jesse shoved his ear by Tyler's mouth to catch the wet words, feeling spit and what he hoped was spit hitting his ear, catching the words that Tyler whispered, his voice breaking with static.
"Go. he's gonna come back. he has a gun. go.. Please.."
"No Tyler, I'm not going to leave you. You're coming with me or I'm not going at all." Jesse turned his head and noticed just how hazy his eyes looked up close- fading, he was fading fast. Then Mia was there and she was running her fingers over Tyler's face and over his chest, under Tyler's shirt and Jesse knew she was trying to be gentle and she was trying to be careful and she was checking to see how bad he's hurt but when Tyler moaned out because she rubbed her thin fingers against a mass of sore flesh Jesse couldn't help but snap, "be careful." And Mia understood how worried he is so she didn't say anything. Jesse arranged his legs so Tyler was almost sitting in his lap now, Jesse holding Tyler in an embrace.
Voices calling from a yellow road To come downstairs and say hello Don't be shy just say hello
She didn't touch Tyler's arm though and neither did Jesse because he could tell by looking at it and the way it rested against the ground that it was broken, something in there was not where it was supposed to be, it didn't take 3 years of nursing school Jesse didn't have to know that no one's wrist should bend that way and stay there.
Mia yanked out her cell phone and dropped, cursed softly and then louder again as she waited for it to turn back on; Jesse muttering nonsense words, phrases, list of car parts and cars he had worked on to Tyler, tried to get Tyler to stay awake, alive because Jesse wasn't sure if Tyler would wake up again if he let him fall asleep. Tyler just whimpered slightly, shook a little. Mia barked out where they were, told Dom to bring his car, and started dialing Brian. They both turned when they heard footsteps at the end of the block, Jesse craned his neck around the trash, looking to see Dom. Wasn't Dom though.
To tell you the truth I've said it before Tomorrow I start in a new direction I know I've been half asleep I'm never doing that again
A man, built like a football player stood there instead, gun in hand. "Who? Thought I made it so you couldn't talk!" Jesse heard the voice and it hit the memory, the description he knew of Tyler's father, of the night when he first met Tyler- the rusty voice that Jesse associated with cigarettes and years of too much whiskey.
"Dad," said Tyler softly, making a statement in a conversationalist tone, no fear no apprehension but his voice no louder than before, and Jesse heard him only because no one else was making a sound except for Brian who was asking for Mia, yelling into the phone, asking if everything was ok.
"You two, get out of here. This does not concern you. Lave the little shit and go."
"No," said Jesse, keeping one arm wrapped around Ty, shielding him.
"Jesse," said Tyler. "Go, I'll be fine."
"No." The man, Jesse couldn't think of him as Ty's father, laughed. A short laugh and then stepped forward, pushed Mia who stood there shocked- she hit the ground, her cell smacking against the pavement and making a cracking noise. He shoved Jesse off, Jesse's arm dragging Tyler almost on top of him, Tyler gasping at the pain of moving and pressure on injuries. The man pushed a gun against Ty's ear, kicked him in the ribs then again and again, stepped on Tyler's arm, the busted one, and was rewarded with a short scream. Shoving the gun back against Tyler's ear, he turned to Jesse who had started to stand up, after catching a few of the kicks, holding out a hand to shove himself between Tyler and his father.
"Go. Or I shoot him."
"Not quite," said Dom, walking in, a gun in his hands, a slightly larger gun than the one in Ty's father's hand. Jesse heard a siren coming closer, another siren slightly off, then a third- forming a bizarre round, pulling in closer.
I look straight at what's coming ahead And soon its gonna change in a new direction Every night as I falling asleep These words repeating in my head
Tyler's father dropped the gun, which was holding Tyler upright and Jesse had to dive forward and scrape his hands and wrists along the ground to catch him and hold him in his lap and Jesse was pretty sure he was holding Tyler together, it wasn't just the cloth Mia was ripping off her shirt, off Jesse's.