While the internet was actively catching fire, Jarad was entirely oblivious to the flames.
The final bell echoed through the high school hallways, an ear-piercing scream that signaled freedom for hundreds of exhausted teenagers.
Jarad pushed through the double doors and stepped out into the crisp afternoon air, letting out a long, heavy exhale.
His body was still quietly warring against him.
The dull, persistent ache in his joints was a constant reminder of the pills and lean his fifteen-year-old body was craving.
But his mind was fortified.
He had made a promise to himself and his mother, and he wasn’t going to break it.
As he walked down the concrete steps, he reached into his pocket to check the time.
He pulled out his clunky smartphone and pressed the power button.
Nothing happened.
The screen stayed completely black.
Jarad frowned, pressing the button harder.
It was completely dead.
He remembered feeling it vibrate aggressively during his morning classes, assuming it was just a glitch or a spam text message, but it must have buzzed itself entirely out of battery.
Annoyed, he shoved the lifeless piece of plastic back into his pocket.
He had no idea that those vibrations were the shockwaves of his song breaking the underground internet.
He navigated toward the front gates, keeping his head down, but a familiar voice called out to him.
“Yo, Jarad! Hold up!”
Gathered near the edge of the parking lot was the same group of guys from yesterday.
One of them, a kid in a faded hoodie, jogged over.
“We’re heading to my older cousin’s place,” the kid said, dropping his voice a fraction.
“He got a fresh script. We’re gonna pour up and chill for the weekend. You coming?”
In his past life, Jarad wouldn’t have hesitated.
It would have been the highlight of his week.
But looking at the kid now, all Jarad saw was a dead end.
“Nah, I’m good,” Jarad said smoothly, adjusting the straps of his backpack.
His friend looked genuinely confused.
“You sure, bro? You’ve been acting weird since yesterday.”
“I’m just focused right now,” Jarad replied, keeping his tone light but absolutely firm.
“Got some things I need to handle at the house. Catch y’all later.”
He just turned and walked away.
Every step he took away from the parking lot felt like a chain breaking.
The cravings were still there, buzzing in the back of his mind, but the power they held over him was completely gone.
Jarad speed-walked the entire way home, eager to distract himself with music.
When he unlocked the front door and stepped inside, the house wasn’t empty like he expected.
The TV in the living room was softly playing a sports broadcast.
Sitting on the couch was his older brother, Brian.
Brian was a few years older, usually busy with his own life and work, so seeing him around the house in the middle of a Friday afternoon was a rare comfort.
In the original timeline, Jarad’s massive fame and sudden passing had left his family devastated.
Seeing his brother sitting there, completely normal and at peace, sent a warm wave of gratitude through Jarad’s chest.
“Hey,” Jarad said, tossing his keys on the counter.
Brian looked back over the couch, nodding casually.
“Sup, little bro. School survive you today?”
“Barely,” Jarad laughed, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge.
“You off work early?”
“Yeah, boss let us go. Mom’s gonna be home in like an hour, so don’t make a mess of the kitchen,” Brian teased, turning his attention back to the basketball highlights on the screen.
“I’m just heading to my room,” Jarad said, flashing a genuine smile.
“Good to see you, man.”
Jarad jogged up the stairs, his mood significantly lighter.
He walked into his bedroom, tossed his backpack onto the floor, and immediately sat down at his desk.
He plugged his dead phone into the wall charger, then reached down and pressed the power button on his PC tower.
The computer hummed to life, the monitor glowing brightly in the dimming room.
Jarad cracked his knuckles as the operating system loaded.
He figured he should check SoundCloud just to see if the track had gotten any traction.
He wasn’t expecting a miracle.
He just wanted to see if maybe fifty or a hundred people had stumbled across the acoustic tags.
He opened his web browser, clicked the bookmark for his profile, and leaned back in his swivel chair, taking a sip of his water.
The page loaded.
Jarad froze.
He completely forgot how to swallow.
The water caught in his throat, and he ended up coughing, slamming the plastic bottle down onto the desk.
Juice WRLD
Followers: 18,405
He blinked hard.
He rubbed his eyes.
He looked again.
The number was still there.
Beneath the entirely blank profile banner sat his only upload, Wishing Well (Acoustic).
Plays: 82,144
Jarad stared at the screen, utterly paralyzed.
His jaw hung open.
It didn’t make any sense.
It had only been a few hours.
He had zero promotional budget.
He hadn’t shared the link with a single living soul.
How was this mathematically possible?
Before his brain could even begin to process the sheer magnitude of what he was looking at, the page automatically refreshed.
Plays: 83,012
It was climbing in real-time.
Moving completely on instinct, Jarad clicked on the track to look at the comments section.
The waveform of the song was entirely buried underneath a solid, overlapping wall of tiny avatar bubbles.
Thousands of comments were stacked on top of each other, timestamped from all over the country.
“This kid is the future of music.”
“Kaze sent me! Streamer of the year for finding this!”
“I’ve listened to this 20 times today. The pain is so real.”
“WHO IS THIS GUY?! DROP MORE MUSIC NOW!”
Jarad fell back into his chair, running a trembling hand over his short twists.
The internet hadn’t just discovered his song; they had turned it into an anthem before he even finished his school day.
The dead battery in his phone suddenly made perfect sense.
The world had found Juice WRLD.