lost | jariana

15

Jason couldn't stop the tears as he ran out of his house. He didn't know how to breathe as he was running down the street and trying to stop himself from sobbing at the same time. The world sped by him, his peripheral vision a blur as his feet automatically ran to the only person he knew would be there for him the way he wanted to.

After two blocks, Jason reached the designated house, and he hopped over the fence. The porch light flickered on, and he heard movements and a phone call from within the house, and he knew that his parents knew where he was. He continued to scan the house, looking for the window before scaling the tree, trying to keep his balance as his tears blurred his vision.

Knock, knock!

The curtain of the window opened, and Ariana's soft face appeared. She pulled open the window, letting him inside.

"What happened? I heard your parents call."

Jason stayed silent, making himself comfortable in Ariana's bed of the stuffed animals that he had gotten her. He grabbed onto her purple giraffe, and Ariana knew something was wrong.

"Jason, are you okay?"

Ariana closed the window, before crawling over to Jason and sitting beside him. She pulled herself under her blanket, offering him the other side, which he just nodded. She placed it over his legs as she watched the tears stream down his face.

"Uncle James died."

"Oh, Jason..."

James was Jeremy McCann's younger brother. He was a joyful character and loved living life. He worked for the McCann gang as one of their weapons dealers, but with meeting new faces from other borders came with more trades than just guns. He was a drug addict and alcoholic and spent most of his free days in his basement with other addicts smoking or drinking.

Pattie and Jeremy had tried to help him as much as they could, especially knowing how much Jason had loved being around James. Before he went down the path he did, James would watch over Jason, and he was the one to introduce Jason to new music and showed him how to play the guitar. James was also the one to teach Jason how to fight, physically and psychologically, showing Jason all he needed to know to survive the world both in the gang life and in general.

It was because of James that Jason was able to escape his parents' gangster lifestyle and grew up with some sort of normalcy through the adventures that James would take him on, and Jason was able to see the good in the world through James' eyes. James was Jason's childhood, and now he was dead.

"They said that he was drunk when he went to the trade. These people were a new connection, so they didn't know him or understand how he acted. Because you know, he can act kind of crazy sometimes, especially when he's on..."

Jason paused, trying to grasp the situation he was trying to make sense of. But it didn't make sense at all. How could James be dead? How could they do that to him?

"I guess he said something that pissed them off, and they shot him."

Ariana hugged Jason and allowed him to cry. She cried too, remembering all the memories of James taking her and Jason to the park or to watch a movie whenever their parents were busy. She remembered how he was always singing to the radio, which had inspired Ariana to take a liking into singing after he complimented her voice and told her she should do it more often.

There wasn't a memory of James that Ariana recalled where he wasn't smiling or laughing.

"This hurts so bad," Jason sobbed.