"YOU MADE ME HATE EVERYTHING ABOUT MYSELF"
it wasn't fate that they would meet; it was merely an inevitable disaster.
john was twenty-two, destined for greatness in the league of legends scene. he had joined a pro team, and was a full-time streamer...
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jaren had graduated at the top of his class, and he was ready to take on the real world with all its problems and faults.
well, at least he thought he was.
it had all started when he got to his mother's house after the graduation ceremony. everyone was ecstatic except for his grumpy father who sat in the corner. jaren was studying to become a videogame designer, which annoyed his father (his dreams of jaren becoming a doctor had been snatched in a mere second).
why couldn't his dad just be happy for him? people had expectations, but that didn't mean that they would automatically become reality. he hated that about everyone; their opinions were too strong.
"congratulations to my son." jaren's dad exclaimed, raising a glass up in the air to commemorate what jaren had done. he looked at jaren with mischief in his eyes, proceeding to speak only after taking a sip of the wine. "it's a shame that he's wasting his life to become a videogame designer rather than doing something useful for society."
jaren had enough of the talk. he slammed down his cup, only proceeding to draw attention to himself. his dad looked up with a shocked face, pretending as if he did nothing wrong. it was easy to fake things for his dad, and usually everyone believed him.
"why are you always disappointed in me?" jaren asked, pleading with his dad to finally care for once. he was extremely upset and angry, but it all faded to sadness in mere seconds. tears threatened to fall out, but he pushed all his energy into forcing out a yell instead. "why am i never good enough for you!"
"jaren, you do not yell at me like that! go up to your room and think about what you have done." jaren's dad stated, pointing towards the stairs of the house. jaren followed the finger, walking slowly as he waved bye to the guests in the room. as he walked past, his dad tightly gripped his arm. his words came out as mere whispers. "next time you try to embarrass me, you'll have something else coming for you."
jaren walked up the stairs with tears in his eyes. his mom was the only understanding one in the family; his dad seemed to utterly despise him at points. it was like fighting a war he could never win. he would try time and time again to please his father, but it would never realistically happen.
he slammed the bedroom door behind him. looking at all the pictures around the room, he realized how much he hated it there. all the pictures were him smiling with his family or hanging out with his friends, and they were all just lies. jaren wasn't happy, despite the smiles in all the pictures. it was merely a facade that he put on to please others.
jaren wanted to be perfect.
yet, he knew it would never happen.
he flopped down on his bed, picking up his once discard phone. he had left it in the room an hour ago, knowing that he probably wouldn't need it while all the guests were here. now that he was confined to his bedroom, he could willing play it without getting into any trouble at all.
he opened up his notifications, noticing immediately that one of his favorite players from a pro team was online and streaming league of legends. league of legends was something that jaren referred to as an addiction as it was so fun and time-consuming. yet, he still found it weird that the pro player was streaming. he usually only did that once a month.
his name was the mask, but everyone usually referred to him as john. he would wear a signature mask every time he played, and that's where the name stemmed from. sometimes, jaren wondered how he could even function on that thing.
as he was about to click on the stream, the door handle began to shake. jaren quickly got up and reached out to grab the handle, but immediately pulled his hand back. what was going to happen if he opened the door? was it something drastic or something little?
he backed away from the door quickly, going to the opposite side of the room as the person jiggling the door handle walked away. that person could have saved him from his wretched life, and he just let them walk away like usual.
jaren was scared of the dark times, and that made him scared of traveling out to the light.
💡
it was around an hour later when jaren heard the booming voice of his father.
"jaren, get the hell out of your room and come downstairs right now!" his father's stern voice echoed against the walls, and suddenly, jaren became that little scared kid that he was once. there was no where to run or hide; he was stuck in a trap that he could never get out of. he was about to open the door when he heard the voice again "i swear, if i have to say it one more time, you'll be getting a lot worse."
jaren ran down the stairs, immediately meeting the angry green eyes of his father. his own heterochromatic eyes widened in fear as the man's hand reached up, moving swiftly against his face.
slap!
it had all happened in the blur, but jaren was already on the ground holding his cheek. he was petrified to move. he was too scared to say anything back to the man in front of him.
"don't ever embarrass me again, jaren."
"i'm leaving." jaren managed to get out, still laying on the floor. he held his cheek even tighter, the stinging being replaced by immense pain. "i'm leaving the house forever; you'll never see me again."
"good. we never wanted you here anyway; you're too much of a mess." jaren's father bellowed, kicking his son right in the stomach.
jaren almost threw up from the kick, but he forced himself to get up and head back to his room. he refused to let his dad get the best of him once more. zipping up his suitcase, he headed outside to his new life.
he picked up his phone, quickly tapping in the numbers that he needed to.
