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Michael sat on the floor of the basement. The same basement where Jeremy and him played video games and stuffed their mouths with junk food.
He sat next to his garbage can, a lit joint in his left hand, and a box of childhood memories sat in front of him.
Almost taunting him.
As soon as Jakes house caught on fire Michael had left, his squip slurred, but was prominent in the back of his mind. How Jeremy was, if he had gotten out safe, in the forefront of his mind. He frowned at the box then looked at himself in the reflection of the t.v screen.
'Jeremy' appeared next to him except his eyes were too blue, too bright, too wrong. 'Jeremy' smiled cruelly, “come on Michael, it’s time to forget him, he was holding you back.” Michael frowned, “it's hard to forget him when he’s the voice telling you to forget him.”
“But i’m not him, I’m an upgraded version of him, a better version. The version that’s perfect for you. The version you want”. Michael looked back at the box, pulling out a magic the gathering card. It was the only present he got for his 10th birthday because nobody even bothered to remember it, everyone except stupid fucking Jeremy.
‘Jeremy’ placed his cold hands on Michael’s shoulders, “come on, into the trash it goes”. Michael swallowed, and then tossed the card into the trash can. He threw a few other things in the trash can too. Including photos of the boys over the past 12 years, some of their favorite movies, and a t-shirt that said “p1”. Jeremy, the real Jeremy, had a matching one that said,”p2”.
Michael could feel tears threatening to spill. His Squip told him to take a hit of his joint, and he did, and it did help keep the tears at bay. ‘Jeremy’ smiled and brushed his hand over Michael’s jaw, “you did such a good job Mikey. Now burn it.” Michael went wide eyed, “i can’t just burn this stuff...it’s Jeremy. It's probably all I have left of him.”
The Squips eyes went from bright blue to red in a blink. “You want to forget about him right? Forget everything that he was to you? Forget everything he's done to you? Now do what I told you and burn that garbage!” The Squips voice become glitchy as he glared at him.
Michael couldn’t do anything but look down and nod solemnly. He picked up the trash can and walked out to the back patio with his lighter. Taking one last hit of the blunt he threw it in the garbage can and reached in his pocket. He pulled out a photo, the only thing that hadn’t been burned yet. It was a fairly recent one, the two boys were sitting on the beanbags in the basement playing video games, when michael had grabbed his camera and snapped a picture.
Jeremy had given a stupid, beautiful, sloppy half smile while trying to focus on the video game while Michael was brightly smiling, eyes slightly red from a joint they had been sharing just half an hour earlier. Michaels chest ached, all he wanted was to go back to the simpler times, when only stuff liked this matter. When Jeremy would never even think about leaving him, let alone letting him fend for himself in a bathroom of a party. ‘Jeremy’ reappeared next to Michael, leaning on his shoulder.
He was cold.
He was too cold to be Jeremy but, this Jeremy would never leave him. He would stick by Michael no matter what.
“Burn it.” ‘Jeremy’ whispered, smirk plastered on his face. Michael took a deep breath and placed the lighter against the picture, setting it aflame. He threw the flaming memory into the trash, sitting down on the cold deck and watched the flames dance and eat up the past 12 years. Jeremy sat down and placed his cold hand on Michael’s, “this is only the first step. You’ll see. We’re going to be great.” Michael stayed silent as he kept his gaze on the fire silently hoping the fire would consume him.