18 days.

More the 2 weeks.

But yet it felt like months.

It was now a total of 18 days since I've seen my brother. The loud dumbass I've spent my entire life groaning about living with. And now? I take everything I said back. I miss him. I miss my life, to be honest.

I was supposed to go back to school in public. After doing online for so long, I was so excited. But I just couldn't. I barely even wanted to talk to my best friends, how could I socialize with people who don't give a shit about me?

So another year of online it was. Most of my assignments were untouched, and the completed ones had little to no effort in them. My current worth ethic completely contrasted my one from the past.

You'd think that getting to live with your boyfriend would be pretty nice, wouldn't it? Well when you're depressed, overworked, anxious teenagers it's not particularly enjoyable.

Flashback

"What the fuck do you want from me?? I'm out here busting my ass to take care of you and you're fucking complaining?" Jaxon yelled

"I'm not complaining Jaxon, I'm worried! You're constantly fucking working. Cleaning the house, doing the laundry, going shopping. Hell, I haven't seen you edit so much since I've known you!! You're back to streaming daily which we BOTH know is terrible for your mental health. You haven't had a full god damned meal in lord knows how long, and I can see the bags under your eyes from a mile away!" I yell back, not letting him get a word in

"Why are you so concerned now? After I've worked myself to the bone?? It's to the point where I don't feel normal if I'm relaxed. I crave the need for stress, it's not healthy. And it's all your fucking fault!" He walks closer to me

My eyes widen more "Me?! The fuck did I do??"

"For DAYS you just sat on your ass crying in bed. Do you know how much that fucking hurts?? Seeing my partner depressed in her bed, not even being able to get up to eat? And on top of that, you wouldn't even take care of yourself. I'm not your FUCKING dad!" Tears formed in his null eyes

"JAXON, I WAS DEPRESSED." I yell before taking a pause, too shocked to even formulate a sentence "My fucking brother was ARRESTED FOR NO FUCKING REASON. OF COURSE I DIDN'T TAKE CARE OF MYSELF. BUT IT'S NOT ON ME THAT YOU'RE WORKING YOURSELF TO THE BONE!"

"You put all of that depression and stress on ME. YOU DIDN'T LET ME BREATHE FOR 2 SECONDS. THERE WAS ALWAYS SOMETHING TO BE DONE. DO NOT TRY TO VICTIMIZE YOURSELF"

"I NEVER TOLD YOU TO DO SHIT. THAT WAS ALL YOU, DUMBASS BITCH. YOU TOLD TO DO ALL THAT STUFF. YOU'RE REALLY PUTTING ALL OF THIS ON THE PERSON WHO WAS ROTTING IN THEIR BED AS HER LIFE CRUMBLED BEFORE HER?" Hot tears streamed down my face as I yelled

"You know what?" He asked ominously, the most calm voice he'd used all night

I felt a cold shiver go down my spine as my breath stopped in fear

"..Maybe I shoulda never asked your brother for your fucking username."

End flashback

I sniffled a bit, keeping a cold stone face as I remembered the events from a week or so ago. We hadn't talked or interacted much since then. Just small, numb glances.

He was streaming for hours every day. His energy was terrible and the worst content he had ever started putting out. I knew it, chat knew it, even he knew it. Yet, he continued.

Tommy, Wilbur, and Niki all left before the fight. They thought everything would be fine. In their defense, we all thought that. After they saw how odd Jaxon was acting, they immediately tried to text and call me. I just said he was tired, too hurt to let anyone know what had happened.

I came to the decision to keep my phone on silent and barely even check it. There wasn't much of a point to going on it anyways.

Stop laying in your bed and staring at your ceiling, Willow. You're trying not to overthink as much, remember?

My stomach grumbled, it seemed to do that a lot more lately.

I stood from my bed and walked towards the kitchen, passing the streaming room that Jaxon was currently in. Instead of the normal laughing and stupid sex jokes that I missed so much, I just heard emotionless mumbling to chat.

Sighing, I continued to walk to the kitchen to grab a snack. Pulling out some blueberries from the fully stocked fridge, curtesy of Jaxon, I place them in the counter.

Right as I was about to start eating, I hear a knock from the door. It was loud, practically banging, and super fast. I raise an eyebrow at the odd style of knocking, and get up to open the door.

I look at the mirror before opening the door. My eye bags were terrible, but anyone would've guessed that. I was breaking out, acne all over my skin. My skincare was practically nonexistent. My hair was in a messy bun and the red streak had long faded. The freckles scattered all across my face seemed to look lifeless compared to my pale complexion.

I fake a smile to try to look happy, but I decided to just give up on the whole "fake it till you make it"

Finally, I decide to open the door.

My numb face turns from an emotionless one to widened eyes and mouth agape for a sharp gasp to escape.

"Willow" The familiar voice breathes out with a smile

Numb.

At this point I was used to it.

Used to the cold floor I sat on the entire day. The shitty bland food that I barely even ate. The stubble on my chin, much longer than I usually let it grow out. The feeling of the hot tears on my face turning cold.

It's not fair.

Why am I used to feeling numb now?

"Mr. Patterson, you have a visitor" A guard says, unlocking the prison door and taking me to the visiting area

It was most likely Sap and George, they're the only ones who ever visit

..But it wasn't

It was someone I've never seen before. Was this some sort of mix up?

He looked fairly young, blue hair blocking me from seeing some of his eyes.

"Uhm, hello? Who are you?" I ask, sitting down in front of him

"I'm Leo. Buttttt you might as well just call me your worst nightmare" He smirks

I snort and try to contain a laugh "That's the most cringy shit I've ever heard"

"Really? Well, you didn't seem to find it cringy when you yourself called me that"

My smile dropped

I went from laughing

To confused

And finally, to realizing

"The fuck..?" I ask under my breath

His smile widens "You heard me"

"How did you-? How-? What??" I can barely think straight

"That's right, Dream" He pauses to laugh "You embarrassed me in to your millions of followers, so I thought I'd get a little retaliation"

"You caused all this? You FUCKING CAUSED ALL OF THIS?? YOU FRAMED ME AND GOT ME ARRESTED, MADE MY LITTLE SISTER HAVE A PANIC ATTACK, CAUSED MY BEST FRIENDS TO GO THROUGH HELL AND BACK TO FIGURE THIS OUT?? ALL BECAUSE OF A FUCKING TWITTER ARGUMENT??" I yell, standing up in anger

"That's fucking right. You fuck with me, we fuck back ten times worse" He says, looking up at me since he was still sitting

"YOU- Wait..we? Who's we? There's multiple of you fuckers in on this??"

"There's far more than you can comprehend. And one of them is closer than you think"

I stare at him, anger piercing through my eyes

"You really need to be careful with who you let in your home, Dream" He says calmly

"The fuck do you mean?" I ask, sitting down and keeping eye contact

"You know exactly what -or really I should say who- I mean"

"What? Is it that Rix person? Sap and George told me about them, I knew I should've been suspic-"

"It's not Rix." He cuts me off

I laugh nervously "Then who else could it be?"

He just stares at me, giving me no response.

My brain tries to trace every single person that's been in the house

"It's not Sap, George, or Willow of course. A-and there's no way it was my girlfriend. That only leaves.."

Jaxon.

I look back up and see his smile has gotten bigger

"No.." I say in a whisper

"Ding ding ding! We have a winner!!" He laughs

My breathing becomes unstable as I stare into his eyes

"He was all apart of our little plan! He's a traitor." He continues

"No, there's no fucking way.."

"How does that make you feel, Dream? How does it make you feel to know that someone so close was actually the farthest he can be?"

"Backstabber." I whisper to myself

"You're so FUCKING GULLIBLE!" George yells

"I knew you were stupid but I didn't know you were a full blown fucking dumbass" Sapnap adds, rubbing his temples in frustration

"The fuck do you mean?? We finally found out what's wrong and how I got arrested and you guys are mad at me?" I yell back with confusion

"We're not mad that we found out who got you arrested, he's a dumbass for literally confessing to committing a crime." George explains "We're mad because you actually believe that Jaxon was involved in all of this"

"What else am I supposed to believe?? I got arrested out of no where, I'm grasping at straws of what to believe now"

"Listen, Clay, I do not feel like arguing and trying to get your dumbass to understand this situation. I'm going tell the police about all of this and get you out of fucking prison. Maybe start using your head a little bit before letting some random ass teenager convince you that your little sister's boyfriend has been a spy this whole time" Sapnap says coldly, him and George leaving me with my thoughts

"Holy shit, Clay!" I whisper yell and throw myself into his embrace

We hug as tightly as possible

After a good minute or so if hugging, we both let go with tears falling down our faces

"Willow..are you okay?? How have you been holding up? Are you eating enough? It looks like you haven't slept in days" He asks, sounding like a worried mother

"Me?? Are YOU okay? What the fuck happened to you?? I was so worried and no one was giving me any information" I start to cry more

He brings me back into another hug

"I'm okay, Willow. They let me go, we're pressing charges, everything's gonna be okay" He reassures

"Pressing charges? On who??" I ask, being released from the hug again

"Well, uhm.." He falters "The whole situation was staged. Some random ass kid that I exposed in stream once set it all up"

"The fuck..?" I whisper in disbelief

"Yeah, it's a whole lot of shit. But Sap and George are figuring everything out. None of us are banned from any airlines anymore, which is good. So Jaxon can go home!"

I look down at the sound of Jaxon's name

"Awwww, is someone upset their wittle boyfwend is going home?" He teases

Except, I don't smile back and punch him like I normally would

"What? What's wrong? Did he do something, did he hurt you?? I swear if he did-"

"No, Clay" I interrupt him "He didn't..he didn't hurt me"

"Then what's wrong?"

"We just" I sigh "Got into an argument"

"We haven't talked in a couple days.." I murmur

"The argument was that bad?? What was it about?" He questions more

"He was upset because he was so stressed and I tried to tell him that I wasn't forcing him to do anything, but he kept blaming it on me"

"Well..was it?"

"What do you mean? Of course it wasn't me, I didn't do anything wrong"

"Are you sure?"

"I mean, I didn't want him leaving my side for a while. I was too scared of being alone. So for a couple of days I wouldn't let him leave unless he was getting food or something. I barely left the bed. But after that, he did things on his own, it wasn't me keeping him down. She shouldn't blame me for being stressed!" I explain

"Willow.." He pauses "You need to understand that sometimes both people can be in the wrong. Yes, you were upset, but you needed to let him breathe a little. Being forced to be around so much depression and stress affected him too. You shouldn't have put that on him"

I look at him with disbelief

Was he really taking Jaxon's side??

After all I'd gone through. And I'm his own god damn sister! He should be mad at Jaxon, not scolding me!

"But he's in the wrong too. He shouldn't have went off on you either. You were vulnerable and in such a bad state of mind that you didn't know what you were doing. And it wasn't your fault that you were feeling so bad or wanted him to stay with you. You most likely didn't wanna be alone after loosing someone so close to you. I can't believe he'd blame all of this on you"

I didn't respond, just stared at the floor deep in thought

"Can I uhm" He starts, breaking the short-lived silence "Can I come in the house now?"

I step aside, allowing him to come in, and close the door behind him

Still, I just stare at the floor

I've got a lot of shit to think about..

Words: 2254

Date: March 19th, 2022