Separated by Cardboard//a fanfiction

Becoming Friends

Julian's eyes snapped open.

Malek!

He immediately sat up and turned to the peanut box. There he was, the gorgeous peanut Julian now had the responsibility of saving.

Julian let out a sigh of relief when he saw Malek was still there. He stood up and thought about what he would say.

Julian walked as close as he could to the peanut box. "Hey, uh, Malek?"

Malek turned and looked at him but then turned back to facing the ground. "Hey, I.. I know you're probably not in the mood for talking, but my name's Julian. I-I know you're not very, um, well, happy right now, but I thought maybe I could help you be, uh, not sad," Malek had turned to him, and Julian gave him a small, testing-the-waters smile.

"Do you think you could give me a chance?"

Malek sat there, contemplating. After a minute or so, he shrugged while saying, "Why not?" It was barely audible and still a little sad, but one good thing came out of that two-word sentence. For the first time since Malek had came to the store, he smiled. It was a small, frail, what-have-i-got to-lose smile, but it made Julian the happiest he had been since he got there.

His life is in my hands, Julian thought, and I'm going to make sure it's amazing.

They spent the rest of the afternoon chatting and getting to know each other. Malek had many stories to tell. Though most of them were sad, Julian sat there and contently listened.

"What's your story about coming here?" Malek asked.

"Well," Julian thought back to the farm, "Father Tree had told us our whole lives about this magical place called "The Big Busy Tree". Everyone always imagined it as a safe haven, some amazing place full of other almonds and fun times. That was, until, you were old enough to go there. once it was almost your season to go, father tree told you the truth.. that it was a supermarket and that once you got there, you would wait and then be purchased by humans and eventually eaten. of course they couldn't tell the younger almonds because they would protest and refuse and be emotionally ruined.. so he waited until you were old enough to understand what he meant and know that there was no other choice."

"that's terrible!" malek exclaimed, "they let you live your whole life believing this lie about a "tree", thinking it's this incredible place and then one day, boom, just, "oh yeah, since it's almost your time to go, we have to tell you that the "big busy tree" is really a supermarket, and once you get there you're going to wait until this giant human buys you and then eats you." at our farm the older peanuts, who already know, tell the younger ones, they cry for a little, and then they spend the rest of their time there preparing to go."

"yeah, i know, it's really messed up. but of course there's nothing i can do."

the two sat for a moment in silence before malek said, "i wish we weren't in different boxes. i hate having this gap between us. yeah, i know we just met a little bit ago, but i like you, julian. you're the only friend i've ever had. most others just ignore me because i'm depressed and they don't want to worry about a depressed peanut," he looked up at julian, "heck, i don't even know if you would consider me your friend. i know i wouldn't. i'm sad, clingy, annoying, talkative, suici-"

julian cut him off before he could go any further, "malek, hush. i hate hearing you talk like that. i am your friend. yes, i know we only met earlier, but there's nothing wrong with that. you're not clingy. you're not annoying. you're not talkative. yes, you may be sad, depressed, and suicidal, but that's why i'm here, to help you."

malek looked up at him. "and, i.. like you too. a lot. i have ever since i layed my eyes on you. never forget that malek."

malek started to tear up when one of the other almonds said, "um, guys, not trying to be rude, but, i know you like talking and being all deep and lovey-dovey and stuff, but it's getting late and everyone's trying to sleep."

the two looked around and realized that all the others were sleeping. julian giggled, "oh, oops. sorry, greg, we'll be, uh, getting to bed now."

"goodnight," julian whispered and then tried to kiss malek's forehead. malek put his hand up, "not so fast. i would like to have a date first." they both quietly laughed. "yeah, sorry. i'll get on that." they both laughed once more and said their goodnights.

julian and malek spent the night thinking and dreaming about each other and the amazing day they had. this was the best day of my life, julian thought. little did he know, tomorrow would not be same.

julian woke up to screaming and crying. he jolted up, face filled with horror. just across from him, two humans, a lady and what seemed to be her girlfriend, were scooping up peanuts and dropping them into a small green bag.

malek being one of them. he was screaming and crying and panicking. julian felt his heart drop in his chest. without thinking, he began sprinting at full speed towards the peanut box. he forgot about the gap between the two boxes, but his body was way ahead of his mind. he jumped over it like an assassin, leaping with great agility and landing almost perfectly on his feet. he was still running when he screamed malek's name. "julian!"

"malek, there's no time. you're going to have to jump." julian seemed unnaturally calm, but that was only because his mind still hadn't caught up and his body was doing all the reacting. malek looked at him like he had gone completely insane, but nonetheless closed his eyes and jumped. his eyes were closed the whole way down. julian caught him, not knowing he had the ability to. malek was sobbing, a mixture of quietly and loudly, into julian's chest. julian comforted him, his brain finally having caught up with the situation. he looked around at the others, who were sobbing as well. thirty-seven lives had just been taken from them, almost thirty-eight. one of the peanuts stood up with tears in his eyes, "folks, i know this hard," he managed to choke out, "but we knew this would happen eventually. this isn't a dream, it's reality, and this is going to happen again. we need to prepare for that." the peanut sniffled, "our dear friend malek over here managed to get saved by his friend..."

julian couldn't remember what else the peanut said. as soon as he said "our dear friend malek over here managed to get saved by his friend...", he couldn't hold it in any longer. all his tears flowed down his face. it was chaos. just yesterday he was talking with malek and having the time of his life. and now he was sobbing alongside others, clutching his almost-taken friend to his life.

julian whispered, "don't worry, malek. i've got you."