Jayden Jett Linton

Jayden Jett Linton

19 y/o

Jayden moved to San Myshuno at the end of his third year of high school. He is from Copperdale but his mother had landed a job in the city. He was an only child whose father walked out on him at a young age. His mother struggled to raise him alone as a child, which lead to Jayden feeling like a burden when growing up. She was a cruel woman, Jayden was always told how much he looked like his dad. He hated it. And she did too.

He was distant growing up, preferring to ride his bike alone. He grew up very traditional. On Sundays he and his mother attended church. Jayden only remembers feeling suffocated by all the people and started to skip out on outings as early as possible. Masculinity was always expected from him. He wasn’t able to cry as a child, it only made his mother angrier.

He started to get into a lot of trouble during middle school. Once he started hanging out with some boys from the skate park in Copperdale, Jayden got in a lot of trouble. From pranking houses to staying out all night partying, to even trying to see how many stick-and-poke tattoos he could get to try to hide from his mom. He got away with a lot, but it was only because his mother worked the night shift his whole life, so she was always asleep during the day and gone at night.

Even though he liked to party, Jayden was also interested in physics. It was something that just made sense to him. The first time Jayden took shrooms, he intently researched it. And it was awesome. Soon after, he and his mother moved to San Myshuno, where he met Kari. After telling his mother about Kari’s pregnancy, she kicked him out. That’s okay. He wanted to be with Kari anyway.

But now, here he was. Nineteen years old sitting on the floor holding his infant son Joel, waiting for Kari to come home. Not what he thought he would be doing at nineteen. Joel reached his little hands out, gently grabbing Jayden’s nose. They were waiting for Kari to come home with more formula. They were completely out, and Joel was hungry. And Jayden was broke.

Big blue eyes stared back, reflecting like a mirror. Joel was three months old, and already started to grow a ton of hair. He wasn’t a very strong baby, but Jayden didn’t really know how strong a baby is supposed to be anyway. No one ever showed him how to parent. Amira was the saving grace, and he was so thankful that she was so close.

Kari arrived home two hours after she was supposed to, but she blamed it on simulation lag. Jayden couldn’t argue with that. He expected her to hand him a bag, a can, a paper bag even, something that suggested that she at least brought some formula back for Joel. He had been out all day. But she didn’t.

She started laughing about something, but Jayden could only focus on how pissed he was. He had asked her to get one thing for Joel while she was out, and she couldn’t even do that. Jayden noticed Kari’s eyes, it was obvious she wasn’t sober. He was unsure what she was on, but she needed to at least be able to function in the case of bringing home Joel’s food. And just like that without thinking Jayden began to jab at Kari, which lead to an argument.

Kari rolled her eyes, insisting that he should have been the one to get Joel’s food. Jayden’s voice raised, and just like that they were screaming at each other. And Joel wouldn't stop crying.

Joel was on the living room floor, screaming loudly to communicate his hunger. It was just drowned out by the yelling of Jayden and Kari. This was a common occurrence. One that Joel would later learn, is better to stay out of.

It was probably a few hours of yelling and fighting. There was an abundance of holes in the house, which Jayden kept adding to. After the mirror in the bathroom shattered, the fighting only got worse. Within minutes of the glass shattering, there were bangs on the door that blended in with the fighting. After not noticing the bangs, the front door flew open with a yell. It was Amira.

Jayden felt relieved. She was holding a new can of formula, shoving it into Kari’s arms. “Do you two not realize that the entire damn neighborhood can hear you? Next time this shit happens, and Joel needs something as basic as formula, then come get me! I am literally next door!” Amira’s words were loud. She turned to look at Jayden.

“Now stop your stupid ass fight and feed your damn infant son! I’m sure people as far as the bus station can hear just how hungry he is with you two screaming your business for everybody to hear.” Amira walked towards the front door, turning to look back at the two. Her voice was softer this time. “You guys need to be more careful.” And just like that the front door slammed shut.