REKINDLED

🌸🌸🌸
Sixteen
🌸🌸🌸

Author: We about to know stuff in this chapter y'all. Happy reading!

"A big fan? That's wack."

Oren sighed for what felt like the hundredth time that day.

Jaden was bent on ruining his peace. He just knew it.

"...Like, why don't I ever see her at your gigs?"

Oren bit back a groan, shutting his eyes as he prayed for patience.

Lord, help me.

"There's a lot to the statement, you know that, right—"

"—Jaden. Do you mind?"

His friend paused… for all of three seconds. Then he went right back to kicking his legs against the wall.

Oren sighed. There was no stopping him.

Instead, he packed up his guitar and grabbed his jacket.

"Hey, where are you going?"

"Out. Somewhere tranquil."

Jaden rolled over to face him. "Because of me?"

"Obviously."

"Okay, don't go. I'll stop." He grinned, all playful and unserious.

Oren gave him an unimpressed look.

"I swear, I'll stop," Jaden insisted.

Fine.

Oren hesitated, then sat back down and unpacked his guitar.

Not even a full minute later, Jaden was at it again.

Oren set his guitar aside. "Do you have something you wanna tell me?"

Jaden blinked. "What?"

"Because you're restless."

His friend sat up, staring at him. "How do you know me so well?"

Oren smirked. "It isn't that hard, really."

Jaden gasped, feigning offense. "Ouch. Can't believe I'm that readable."

"That’s not what I meant, though. I just am like that. It’s nothing you did, seriously."

Jaden pursed his lips. "Alright." He took a deep breath. "I wanna drink, Oren. So bad it hurts."

Oren knew that’s what it was.

Addiction made people look like monsters.

Hyper. On edge. Like they were crawling in their own skin.

"Okay."

"Yeah. And I prayed, but it won’t go away."

"I understand. And it’s okay, actually—it’s very normal to feel this way. This is the beginning of something new. It won’t be easy, but you’ll win in the end. This is where the Lord becomes your strength—in your weakness—so you need to trust Him wholly."

Jaden swallowed hard, staring at the floor.

Oren continued, voice steady. "Addiction isn’t something you can fight alone. Believe me. It wrecks you. It’s after itself, and it doesn’t care who it turns you into in the process. I once had an addiction. To marijuana." He let out a breath. "And…it was bad. Very bad. I couldn’t go two hours without at least twenty cigarettes. I was shaking and violent without it. My health was falling apart. People I called friends left because I got out of control."

Oren exhaled, staring at nothing in particular. "I lost someone precious to me. And that’s when it all came crashing down."

Jaden didn’t speak right away. When he did, his voice was quiet.

"That’s…deep."

Oren let out a small chuckle. "It’s deeper, trust me."

"Twenty cigarettes." Jaden shook his head, looking slightly horrified. "That must’ve been chaotic."

"It was," Oren admitted. "I did practically anything to get high."

Jaden hesitated, then asked, "How did it start?"

Oren appreciated his caution. Most people just pried.

He didn’t mind sharing his story, though. His transformation.

He was proof that God could change anybody.

That there was no such thing as the worst sinner.

"Well," he started, "I got into a band in high school. The thrill of clubbing, plus my rough childhood…it pushed me. I was naive. A victim of peer pressure."

Jaden nodded, looking down. "That’s…similar to how my drinking started."

"Peer pressure," Oren murmured. "Crazy how fast you change when you fall into it."

Jaden hummed in agreement.

"Things got out of hand. I still don’t know how. And I became someone people feared."

Jaden muttered something under his breath, too low for Oren to catch. Then he looked up.

"Can we pray?" he asked. "Read the Bible? Something?"

"Of course."

They prayed.

They read the Bible—because it was the only thing that made Jaden feel even remotely steady. His hands stopped fidgeting. His knee stopped bouncing. His mind felt clearer.

Oren picked up his guitar, plucking a few strings absentmindedly.

Then it hit him.

"Dude." He turned to Jaden. "You never told me what you told Everest the other night."

Jaden froze.

For just a second.

Then he laughed, all forced and awkward. "What? Nothing, man. I didn’t tell him anything."

Oren just stared.

Jaden swallowed.

His fingers curled against his knee.

Oren sighed, setting his guitar aside. "Jaden."

Silence.

"Whatever it is…you can tell me."

Jaden’s jaw clenched.

The battle was visible—his instinct to deflect versus his need to let it out.

And Oren waited.

Because when it came to him…

He wasn’t giving up.

Not now.

Not ever.

***