Content warning: colorful language/ self harm/ mention of suicide

Why? Why did this random person buy him cake? It was odd... Very odd. Nobody had ever done this for Dagger; nobody, not even his best friend. Dagher sat staring at the strange boy. Zachariah as he had called himself. And damn Zachariah was fine. He had black hair and the perfect color of eyes. He was also tall, like 6'6 tall. Two inches taller then Dagger, which was a surprise. Dagger watched as the waiter put down a plate of red velvet cake. 

"Happy birthday kid," Zachariah said, gesturing at the cake. Dagger shook his head and smiled. Picking up a fork, he began to eat. Shit, Dagger thought, this cake was fucking heaven in his mouth! Dagger glanced up at Zachariah. Zachariah was looking out the bakery window. A car passed by, the headlights reflecting off of the other boys eyes. His eyes.... Glowed? What the hell? Thats not possible. Dagger shook his head. His eyes seemed to glow in the dark. It was a simple science. A little bit of light could reflect off of the iris, creating a type of illusion. The illusion just made it seem like they were glowing; when in real life it was a simple fraction of light. 

"Um," Dagger said, sitting up strait. His hands went automatically to his hair. It was a nerve thing, he would play with little parts of his hair when he got nervous. "Thank you for the... Um cake." Dagger glances at Zachariah. The other boy was smiling.

"You don't get a lot of things?" It was more of a comment then a question

"Yeah my dad is always worrying about the girls," Dagger replied. "They are... How do you put it? The center of his world." Dagger emphasized on the word. 'Center'. It was true. The man was all about the girls. Back when Rick noticed Dagger; he would take Dagger and the girls shopping. They would walk around for hours! Looking at all the girl clothes and jewelry. When Dagger mentioned that he needed a new pair of pants, his father would say, " we'll go over there as soon as we are done here." Hours later, they would leave and Dagger would mention it again. Rick would tell Dagger that now, since he was bugging him, Dagger would have to wait till next time. Well next time never really happened. Soon Dagger had to find a way to get his own clothes. Then a way to get his own food, and soon he had to get to school on his own. Make his own doctor appointments and stich up his own wounds. Dagger at the age of 10, was raising himself. 

"Thats horrible!" Zachariah snarled, "he should at least do something with you! Why aren't you angry?" Dagger thought about that question. Why wasn't he angry? Well... He was alone. The forgotten son that every one hated. Guess you could say he was use to it. Well hell, Dagger couldn't remember the last time his father looked at him. Or the last time Rick invited him to go shopping. Hell Rick forgot to tell Dagger that dinner was done half the time. But instead of tell Zachariah all this, Dagger just shrugged.

"Can't blame the man," he replied, "I look like his ex. Damn I'd hate me if I was him." Zachariah sighed. 

"Well it is your birthday so... Lets go do somethimg else." Um, what? Why would this guy wonna hang out with Dagger longer? Like what the hell? What was the point? What could Zachariah get out of doing this? Dagger shook his head.

"Naw man," he replied, "you've done enough." Dagger stood up. "Plus we shoild be getting back, my um... Dad will be angry if I don't get home soon." Zachariah nodded and started to follow Dagger out of the bakery. His heart gave a slight fludder. What the fuck!! He thought, what was this guy doing to him. They walked a couple of blocks before Zachariah started to talk. Dagger found himself lightening up to this other guy. He found himself laughing and enjoying the conversation that they were having. He found himself having... Fun. Fun, how long has it been since Dagger actually found himself enjoying his life? To long to remember. They walked all the way back to the bar and picked up the car Dagger had "borrowed." Driving back to the house was also fun. Zachariah kept up a goid conversation. He joked some and he laughed some. Who was some. When they got back to the house, they found every one waiting for them. Fuck! Dagger thought.

***

How? How did Zachariah do it? How did he get Dagger to laugh? Jasmine was surprised. It had been years since she had heard Dagger laugh. Years! How did this boy get him to laugh? It was odd seeing her older brother laugh and joke around. A smile was plastered over Daggers face, lightning up his characteristics. Daggers eyes looked brighter, the bags were gone. His perment scowl was errased. She found herself silenly thanking Zachariah for showing up. Zachariah also seemed to be enjoying himself. Dagger turned his head away from the other boy and froze. The smile disappeared, the light hearted Dagger along with it. The cold, dark Dagger stepped back into place. He glared at the gathered family. Jasmine watched as her father stepped forward. Rick had a disappointed look plastered on his face.

"From what I hear you have been drinking?" Rick said. Dagger raised his chin and glared at his father. Jasmine noticed a small piece of cake on Daggers shirt. Seems him and Zachariah had gone out. 

"Why do you suddenly care about me?" Dagger snarled in return. Rick gave a slight flinch. It satisfied Jasmine to see her father like this. It was torture to the man. Torture that he disserved for all tbose uears of ignoring Dagger. The girls had tried to tell their father to spend more time with Dagger. But every time Rick took them to do something the girls wanted to do, not something Dagger wanted to do. At the end of the day, Dagger would go up to his room and cry. Some times Jasmime would follow and hear little gasp of pain as Dagger cut into his wrist. On days that Dagger was some where else. Jasmine would go into his room to find blood bandages stroon around the room. She also read Daggers journal dayly. Thoughys of suicide covered mist pages. Complaints about being the most hated kid in school and the biggest mistake in the family also covered quite a lot of pages. It was a problem, and Jasmine knew that one of these day. Dagger would just disappear on them. She told Kelly and Amma about it. They tried everything to prevent Dagger from doing anything that could hurt him or take him away from them. 

"Don't talk to me like that boy!" Rick replied. Damn you dad! Jasmine thought. He was doing it again. Instead of listening to what Dagger was saying, he was turning a blind eye. 

"I hate you," Dagger mumbled. That set it off. Dagger and Rick began to shout. This would last hours, than days, than weeks. They never got along. Dagger tried and tried. But no matyer how hard he tried, their father never listened. Jasmine covered her eyes and started to walk towards Dagger and Rick. She reached out and grabbed her brothers sleeve. Careful not to show the scars on his wrist, she began to pull him away from their father.

"Mom take care of dad!" Jasmine shouted, as she led Dagger away. Jasmine motioned for Zachariah to follow. She led the group to Daggers bedroom. Bursting open the door, Jasmine threw Dagger in. She bastered for the others to follow. Amma and Kelly stood to the side as Zachariah walked into the room. When every one was inside, Jasmine closed the door and locked it. Time to get down to business.