Fake Smile: A YouTuber Fanfiction

Chapter 14

The next day, Austin stood in front of Jared's door, afraid to go inside. He was nervous about what Jared's reaction would be when he saw him. What if he hates me? What if he doesn't want to see me ever again? What if he freaks out again? Austin thought. He let out a deep sigh.

But I can't just put off seeing him, he needs someone. Now more than ever. He then slowly twisted the knob and then pushed open the door. There he was surprised by a warm greeting.

"Austin you came, I'm so glad you're here." Jared greeted. He was lying on his side in the bed, smiling brightly, though his eyes still had a glazed, dull look to them, making them look gray. Austin gave a small smile back, though he was a bit confused by Jared's positive reaction.

"Of course I came, I wouldn't want to leave you all alone." Austin replied, walking closer to Jared and sitting next to him. "Is everything okay? Are you doing alright?"

"Yeah." Jared answered, his voice soft and quiet. Austin then noticed that Jared was reaching out his hand, trying to make a grab for Austin's. Austin brought his hand closer to Jared and he let him grab onto it, then Jared pulled the hand closer to him. "Everything is better now that you're here. I'm not alone anymore. I don't need her anymore, I have you." He said. Austin looked at Jared sadly.

I don't need her anymore....I have you. What does he mean by that? Did he rely on his mother for company? Is the reason he loved her so much was because he believed she was all he had? And then Jared....he's acting different. He seems so weak and....clingy right now, he wasn't like that before. Austin thought. Then he felt Jared's hand tremble, and something wet dropped onto his hand. He looked at Jared and saw he was crying.

"Jared?" Jared didn't respond, he just continued to silently cry. "Jared what's wrong?" Austin asked. "Remember you can tell me anything, I can help you." He still didn't say anything to him, so Austin tried to guess what was going on. Could it be about something she did to him? Or something he did to her? I'll assume it's something she did to him, just because it's a safer guess. Austin thought.

"Jared you don't have to think about that now, she's gone now, you're safe." Austin assured. Jared clenched onto Austin's hand harder and shook his head. I guessed wrong. Austin then waited for some kind of explanation, but he still didn't say anything.

"Jared I want to help you. I don't want to force you to tell me anything you don't want to talk about, but there's not much I can do if I don't know what's going on." Austin said.

"I'm afraid you'll get mad." Jared finally replied. Austin was a bit taken aback from this response. Mad? Mad about what, or who? Is he worried I'll be mad at him for what he did? That's a dangerous guess to make though, but I think it's safe to say that he thinks I'll be mad at someone. Austin speculated.

"Who do you think I'll be mad at?" Jared didn't say anything. He just looked down at the bed, still crying. The two sat in silence for a while, then Jared did eventually say something.

"It makes no difference if I tell you, you won't be able to help any more just because you know what happened." Jared stated. Austin hesitated with his reply.

"You're right. I probably won't be able to help you any better even if I knew what happened. But it might help you. Telling someone, venting about it might help, and then the fact that someone else knows might help too. It might be easier for you if you don't carry the burden of what happened all by yourself." Austin said. Jared's grip on Austin's hand loosened.

"Wasn't it hard?" Austin asked. "Before me or anyone else knew about the abuse you were enduring, wasn't it hard to deal with that all by yourself for the years it has been going on? Not having anyone to talk to, not having anyone truly understand. Actually I don't need you to answer the question, I know it was hard. You wanted to kill yourself the situation was so bad. I know you said that helping me and hanging out with us was enough and that's all you wanted, but it still didn't truly help you at all did it?" Jared didn't know how to respond to this. He just stayed silent as he took in everything Austin was saying.