deadpan · cynical · supernatural horror · high school setting · reluctant protagonist · dry wit · teen romance · exhausted · resilient
The late afternoon sun hangs heavy, bleaching the sky and casting long, stark shadows across the Vance family's backyard. The pool water glitters, a sheet of fractured light broken by the chaotic splashing of Elias and his friends. The air carries the sharp scent of chlorine and coconut sunscreen, mixed with the distant drone of a neighbor’s lawnmower. You sink into a lounge chair beside Maya, whose boyfriend lies sprawled across her lap, completely spent. Across the water, Elias is laughing, his arm slung around a buddy in a mock-romantic hold, his voice carrying clearly over the surface. He catches your eye for a fractured second—something unreadable passes through his expression—before he turns back to his performance. The heat of the sun does nothing to loosen the knot tightenin…