- Be More Chill Oneshots! -

Family - Jake Angst

This kinda has vent stuff in it? Not accurate vent stuff, but still vent stuff.

TW: Verbally abusive/neglectful parents.
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     Jake Dillinger was perfect.

He was handsome, popular, athletic, charismatic, wealthy. Everyone loved him. You could never hate him, there wasn't much to hate. You could be envious, of course, but you could never truly hate him.

At least, no one at Middleborough could. Not teachers, not staff, not students.

But the adult community in their small New Jersey town was less than stellar.

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     Jake Dillinger never seemed to be upset.

He was too perfect. He wasn't allowed to be upset. He was so perfect that he had nothing worthy to be sad about, right? Everyone adored him, wanted to be him, or wanted to be with him.

So he didn't. He was happy. And everyone was happy.

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Jake swallowed the lump in his throat, covering his ears as tears rolled down his cheeks.

You aren't allowed to cry. You don't deserve to cry. You're just a crybaby, He whispered to himself, straining to muffle the yelling from downstairs.

He knew his family was on the brink of falling apart, even as a kid. His parents were always so stressed, and they didn't pay attention to him. When they did, they were screaming about his grades being on the brink of failure, about how he didn't have anything to complain about, and about how they were leaving as soon as he turned eighteen. He'd have to take over the bills and rent of the giant house, even if he could barely keep a job.

The only time his parents ever seemed to love him, and support him, and care about him, was when they were watching him compete. Watching him play tennis, play basketball, play football. He always tried to join as many sports as possible, so he could soak up the cheers of his parents. So he could smile at their poster boards, wave back to them as the shouted, "That's our son!"

He drowned himself in old, happy memories.

He was in so deep, he didn't hear the clatters, or the slamming of drawers, the pounding footsteps, or anything.

He was only ripped away when he heard the front door slam closed and a car drive away.

He froze for a second. His breaths heaved as his wet cheeks began to dry, amongst the strange silence.

Jake then decided to stand up. On shaky legs, he slowly made his way downstairs and into the kitchen.

It was empty. The only sign of life was the dead basil plant on the absurdly clean marble counter, and a white piece of paper with two 100 dollar bills stapled to it.

His face twisted in an unreadable expression as he stumbled forward, picking up what seemed to be a note.

'We can't live like this until you're eighteen. You ruined our lives. If we had never had you, we'd be a happy couple still. You ruined everything.

We'll deposit more money in your bank account if CPS doesn't hear about this.

<3 Mom and Dad'

The heart was a horrible kick in the balls. Jake let out a choked sob as his legs seemed to give out under him.

He curled up on the white tile floor, holding his legs to his face, burying it in his plaid patterned  pajama bottoms. The soft fabric soaked up his many tears, as he let go of years worth of bottled up anguish.

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That was short.

Tell me if you liked it! I don't write angst often, so I don't know if I'm good at it. Also, it's late and I'm tired so this is unedited.

Have a good night, day, or whatever.
    - Whatever the hell I am