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Chapter 23 – The Crack in the Wall

The next few days passed like a dream.

Or a nightmare — depending on who you asked.

Don walked the corridors of the school as if nothing had happened. His posture, firm. His expression, unreadable. But the boys had noticed it — the subtle glances, the whispered names, and the odd way some students moved aside when he passed.

The truth was out.

Not publicly.

But Jake and Gor now carried a secret heavier than any exam, any fight — a truth that blurred the lines between who Don was and who he had become.

---

Jake couldn’t concentrate in class.

He stared out the window, watching the sky turn from blue to grey. His notebooks remained blank. His heart wasn't.

“He lied. For years.”

Jake wasn’t sure if he was angry, heartbroken, or simply confused. How do you process that your best friend — the boy who used to collect stickers with you — once commanded a gang?

Every time Don sat beside him, every time he smiled like nothing had changed… it did feel like a lie.

And yet…

Every time Don looked away, Jake saw something raw. Regret? Pain? Shame?

Maybe all three.

---

Gor, on the other hand, had chosen silence.

But even he felt the gap widening.

The trio that once laughed in the same tone now spoke in fractured sentences. Something unsaid stood between them.

Until one afternoon, when Jake slammed his locker shut and turned to Don.

“I still don’t get it.”

Don blinked. “What?”

Jake’s voice was low but sharp. “Why stay in the gang? Why still meet them?”

Don leaned against the wall, hand in pocket, eyes narrowed. “Because that’s who I am.”

Jake’s heart twisted. “No. That’s who you were.”

Don didn’t flinch. “You don’t get to decide that.”

The words hit Jake harder than expected.

He stormed off.

---

That evening, Gor invited Don to the park — their old childhood spot, where the swings creaked and the rusted slide still stood. The three of them once carved their names into the tree there.

Gor sat on the edge of the slide as Don approached.

“You could’ve told us before.”

Don nodded. “I know.”

Gor didn’t accuse. Didn’t push. Just sat there, arms crossed.

“I’m not afraid of who you were, Don,” he said finally.

Don looked up.

“But I’m afraid of losing who you are.”

---

Don lit a cigarette quietly, the flame dancing in the wind. The sky behind him turned orange.

“I can’t promise anything,” he whispered. “But I don’t want to lose you two either.”

A long pause.

Then Gor grinned sadly. “That’s enough… for now.”

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Back at home, Jake sat in his room, reading through Don’s old texts — the ones they exchanged during their final year of middle school, right before Don had vanished for that whole year.

> "I'll be back. Don’t forget me."

> "I’m not the same person anymore, Jake."

Back then, Jake had laughed it off.

Now… it made too much sense.

He clutched the phone tightly.

For the first time, Jake didn’t know if he still fully knew his best friend.

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Far away, under an old bridge, Reaper stood watching flickering flames from a barrel fire. A group of figures surrounded him.

“The Vice is hesitating,” someone muttered.

Reaper smiled coldly. “He’ll return.”

“And if he doesn’t?”

Reaper turned to the gang, eyes glinting.

“Then we burn everything that kept him soft.”

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End of Chapter 23

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