Splinters: Part One

Part One | 2

"Jake!" I laughed, shocked.

I advanced towards him, holding out my hand as we did the handshake we had made so long ago. He chuckled.

"I heard you're leaving."

I stared at him in shock. His ruffled dirty blond hair held much more color than the last time I saw him, and his face wasn't as pale as it used to be. His biceps stuck out in a way they never have and his smile was genuine. He looked... better.

"How'd you..." I questioned.

He nudged me gently. "You don't think I check up on you guys every once in a while?"

"I just... You haven't visited."

He lowered his gaze and kicked the floor with his right foot. "I know," he said quietly. "And I'm sorry, I should've stopped by more often."

"It's cool," I smiled. "It's not like you missed out on much."

Jake laughed. He really did look better. That's all he ever needed. He needed to be okay. 

"What have you done?" I asked curiously.

"Get this!" He sat down on my bed. I took the spot next to him. "I'm taking online college classes! Can you believe that? And I got a job."

"Like, a real job? Doing what?"

"Just cars," he shrugged. "It's not a lot, but it's enough."

"Where do you live?"

He raised his eyebrows, thinking as he looked out the window. "It was tough, I gotta say that, but I managed to get enough and have a few roommates downtown in an apartment."

"You have roommates? Are they your friends?"

Jake chuckled. "Yeah. Pretty weird stuff."

"That's awesome." I said.

"That's awesome?" he gawked, nudging my shoulder. "Look at you, Brayden! You're getting adopted!"

I stumbled backwards, pressing my lips together. "Yeah. The family's pretty cool."

He frowned, furrowing his eyebrows. "Don't get too excited now."

I shook my head and walked towards my bed, sitting down. Jake followed suit.

"What's up?"

I licked my lips. "I'm leaving everyone behind, you know?"

Jake thought for a moment, but then shook his head. "Don't do that, man. You deserve this just as much as anyone else does. Maybe even more. I swear to you, Brayden, when you go to school, a real school, you're gonna be on Honor Roll. You're gonna have friends and you're gonna be popular. You're gonna have cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents. You deserve that."

"It might not look like yours, but we'll all have families." He smiled. "Look at me. I wasn't adopted but I got a family. My roommates family. And in time, so will Josephine and so will Riley and Bobby and Max and J and everyone else we've met who were stuck in this place."

"Not everyone ends up okay. You know what happened to J."

"Actually... She's better now," he admitted quietly.

My eyes widened. "She is? How do you know?"

"I saw her about two days ago."

"Is she still..."

He nodded solemnly.

"Does she still remember us?" I braced myself for his answer.

"Of course she does... She feels bad for..."