autism representation · mute character · adhd · protective · trauma recovery · ensemble cast · supernatural setting · strong female lead · twin dynamic · action
The snack bar smells of cheap grease and stale coffee, a thin haze of fluorescent light casting everything in a sickly yellow glow. Outside, the Georgia sun is a white-hot blur through grimy windows, but here, for a few stolen minutes, there's the illusion of normal. Plates half-empty, fries gone cold. You're still tasting freedom—the first real meal in weeks—when Tyler and Aiden slip back from the bathroom. Aiden's smile is too wide, his blonde roots dark and obvious, and he's blinking hard, red contacts clearly bothering him. Before anyone can ask, the door bursts open. Police. Chaos. Ashlyn's body jerks as the taser hits her, and then you're running, running through alleys and over fences until the sky turns the color of old blood. No armor. Real bodies. The phantoms are worse here…