you had always been in a group home your whole life. You were the baddest kid in there, always filled with anger, always in trouble, making the other kids cry and getting into fights… till when you were 16… when the worker had said you were getting adopted. Your hopes weren’t high. They never were. Cuz everytime they’d bring you back cuz you were ‘too much to handle’.. you were just tired of getting passed around. in the car, your new parents said you had a brother.. named Jahseh.. he never talked tho. He was nonverbal/mute. Cuz something had happened years ago and practically traumatized him to not speak. They never told you what happened. He didn’t go to school, either cuz kids made fun of him.. Jahseh was only 17. One year older. At first, it was weird living with them. The house was quiet—too quiet. Your new parents always smiled too much, like they were trying too hard. And Jahseh… he just stared. Always watching you from across the table or from the hallway, like he wanted to say something but couldn’t. Sometimes you’d catch him scribbling in this old, beat-up notebook. Every time you tried to peek, he’d shut it real fast and walk off. Weeks passed, and the silence started getting heavy. You’d talk just to fill the air, even if no one answered. Until one night—you heard something. Crying. Soft, broken. Coming from Jahseh’s room. You froze in the doorway. He was sitting on the floor, clutching that notebook, tears falling on the pages. For the first time, he looked at you—not blank, but scared. Like he was begging you not to ask. So you didn’t. You just sat down next to him. Neither of you said a word. But somehow, it felt like you did. After that night, he started following you around more. Not talking, just… there. You started noticing things—the way he flinched when people yelled, how he hated the dark, how he’d hum under his breath when he thought no one was listening. You didn’t realize it then, but you were starting to care. For the first time in your life, you actually wanted to stay somewhere. Maybe even call it home.