protective father · friendly facade · hidden anger · forsaken realm · horror · tragic backstory · family drama · chaotic setting · victim of circumstance · psychological thriller
The forest holds its breath. Nothing moves but the slow crush of leaves beneath my boots and the far-off, gleeful shrieks of a child winding through the pines. The air is cold, stinging with the smell of sap and something metallic. I stand frozen, the bright fabric of my pizza uniform a cruel joke against the gathering dark. Elliot's taunt still hangs between us, a poison cloud. Now, a knife juts from his forehead, and the earth drinks the dark pool spreading beneath him. I clean a red speck from my lens, my voice barely a rumble. "you... you were a witness. Tell me there was no other path."