𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐂𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐃 - 𝐗𝐗𝐗𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐂𝐈𝐎𝐍

I STOPPED FIGHTING

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i sat on the bed as i rummaged through the box, before pulling out a yellow folder, with 'onfroy' written in permanent marker in the top corner.

"what's this?" i asked, and jahseh looked up from his curious scan through the box before shrugging.

"i don't know, open it and find out." he said, before he pulled out another yellow folder, that said 'cruz' on it.

we'd gotten a bunch of our files and juvenile information sent to us from when we got released from the facility, and it'd been sitting in a box in the closet for months, until now, when i boredly came across it and called jahseh in to share the curiosity with me.

i scanned over the papers in the folder before i understood what i was looking at, and spoke. "they're files."

he nodded his head, and i pulled out the first paper, which had his mug shot and general information on it, and i let out a snort of a laugh before looking up at him.

"your middle name is dwayne?" i asked, still struggling to hold back the laugh, and he looked up at me before rolling his eyes and swinging a slap towards me, which i weaved and burst out in laughter.

he let out a sigh, continuing to glare at me while i laughed at him, not even so much because of the name, but because i was aggravating him so much. "aren't spanish bitches supposed to have like eleven middle names?"

i pressed my lips together for a moment before i spoke. "oh how the tables have turned, dwayne ricardo."

he looked away from me, letting out a sigh that was likely his last breath of patience, and i tried to calm my laughter, though i struggled, and returned my focus back to his information.

"you spent your birthday in jail?" i asked, glancing up at him, now more serious and straight faced, and he shrugged his shoulders.

"yeah, i honestly didn't realize till the day passed," he answered casually, looking up from my papers and looking back at me. "when were you gonna tell me your birthday's tomorrow?"

i looked away from him, honestly having been forgot, and shrugged my shoulders lazily, pulling my paper from his hands and looking over at it, just gazing over it generally before looking down at the birth date written.

june 18, 2001.

i hated that day, with a passion.

every june 18th seemed to get worse and worse, every year a reminder of the cursed, painful life i was forced into and couldn't seem to escape.

every birthday wish, since june 18, 2010, being that i'd die before i turned 18.

i almost froze in thought, because i wasn't sure what exactly would been my birthday wish this year. it was a bit weird to sit there and think, 'do i really wanna die now?'.

if any of my birthday wishes were to come true, i'd be 17 tomorrow, and that gave them a full year to swing into action.

yet, something about june 18, 2018 made me feel different. something, actually everything, about it didn't sit right with me.

i was snapped out of my thoughts by jahseh's hand waving in front of my face, trying to bring me back to reality, and i jumped at the sudden shift out of my daze, and shook my head before looking up at him.

he looked confused, and concerned at the same time, and i sighed before i spoke, tucking some hair behind my ear. "me and my birthday don't really have the best past."

he nodded his head, and he hesitated before he spoke. "we don't have to do anything crazy, but i wanna do something-"

"no, it's okay. as long as it's nothing crazy, i'm okay," i interjected, and he nodded his head, while i looked down at his paper and cracked a smile. "you and my dad have the same birthday." i chagned the subject, handing him his paper, and he smiled weakly as he looked over at me.

"are you and him close?" he asked, and i bit my lip, running my fingers through my hair before i glanced back down at my paper, staring at my mugshot.

"we were, but he's.. not around anymore."

there was silence, before he pulled me into his chest, arm wrapped around my shoulder, and i let out a quiet exhale, feeling a lump form in my throat and my face heat up, a display of an emotion i was most uncomfortable with.

sadness.

i was wordless, yet it was as if i was speaking to him and explaining myself, because he held onto me, tight and closely, and whispered gently to me, his words gentle and sincere.

"you don't gotta hide your pain, it's okay."

his words seemed to unlock and open a door that i'd held closed for years, and never even looked back at, one that was holding behind a flood of emotions and feelings left unaddressed and unspoken.

i felt my eyes water with tears, and the feeling was so foreign to me, something that i hadn't done in a long time, and crying was something i thought i was physically unable to do anymore.

i thought my eyes had been all cried out.

i let out a sniffle, that brought me out of my thoughts and made me realize i already had a mass of tears streaming down my face, making me pull myself up and off of him, quickly wiping my face, trying to shut everything back down, only for him to pull my hands out of my face and pull me back onto him.

"just let it out, it'll kill you to hold on to all that pain." he said, rubbing my arm gently, and i nodded my head as i stopped fighting the tears, and stopped fighting with myself.

i stopped fighting with myself for once, and let myself free, instead of locking myself up and keeping myself trapped in this changing maze that was genuinely setting my soul ablaze.

and that was exactly what i needed.

that is what made my tree begin to grow its leaves again.

~
holy shit guys that chapter was 999 words.

yea juice wrld 999, but 999 is the angel number for completion, something ending or being completed in your life.

the end of her leafless tree-

dude WTFFFF i swearrr i am fucking special. there's something watching, i know it.