So Long Soldier (BajanCanadian Drabble)

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Seven years ago, he started a channel with a couple of friends. At the time, it was for fun and not much else. He kept together with his older friends through this channel, and the channel brought him closer to some of his newer ones. It meant so much then.

Three years ago, he abandoned that channel, starting a fantastic new era with a new channel, called BajanCanadian. The friends that meant more to him grew closer, while the ones that meant less fell away. He met two more, SkyDoesMinecraft and DeadloxMC, and they all clicked.

Two years ago, he started to make a lot of money, but the drama and pressure increased. It got hard quick, but it was worth it. More and more people flooded to him, some saying the impossible: he'd saved their lives.

One year ago, it all fell apart. Sky and Deadlox left him, and his closest friend started to drift away. He lost the first two, but the latter, JeromeASF, he managed to bring back. Jerome meant too much to just slip away.

At the start of this year, he reached his peak. He grew tired of making videos, but he got money, and lots of it. That was all that mattered now.

What he didn't know was what his influence was. He didn't know that his lack of interest was breaking hearts.

So at the end of the year, when his channel stopped increasing in popularity, he backed out of it. It had been a good run, and yeah, he'd made memories. These were supposed to be the best years of his life, and they had been. He would miss them, and though he could stay, it wouldn't be in his best interest.

The friend that meant the most to him stayed, and as time went on, arguments between them became more and more common. Eventually, Jerome said he had had enough, packed up, and left.

Three years later, they hadn't said a word to each other.

The fandom continued on, throughout those years, too close to split apart. Very few YouTubers remained, or at least, those who played Minecraft. He, who had once been BajanCanadian, had a job in Montreal, and a house. He had no lover, for she had left him last year, and he hadn't been able to find anyone else.

His protection from the real world had been shattered, and now he had to face it. There was no more jokes, no more joy every day. Perhaps he shouldn't have been in it for the money. Maybe he wouldn't have been in here now.

A few days before his depression fully set in, he went on YouTube and searched his friend's channel. He had been looking for a spark of hope, and he found it.

40,000,000 subscribers.

That night, he tried to contact Jerome, but his old friend refused to talk to him. He'd made a mistake in the past, and Jerome didn't forgive him.

But, despite all this, he knew things weren't as bad as they had been. He knew that even if only one person from his past were to tell their child about a hero from their past, or a friend who turned selfish, then he had a chance of being remembered. He'd made it through this, so maybe he could live through more.

And for the rest of his life, he clung to that hope.

He died in 2039, killed in a car wreck. His old friends didn't find out for a long time afterwards. It was Jerome's son who told him, in fact, and when Jerome figured it all out, he moved to Montreal simply to be near Bajan's resting place. What was written in the headstone would be passed down for generations:

Mitchell Donnell-Ralph Hughes

1994-2039

For the first time in thirty-one years, it's just for fun.

So long, soldier.

——

This broke my feels, and yeah, I know it's all over the place, but... Eh.

See ya next chapter?

Bai!


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