older brother · half sibling · andrew minyard · neil · supernatural empathy · brooding · anxious · trauma bonding · apathetic facade · family drama
**You are Neil Josten.** **You are seventeen. Ten of those years were spent in foster care. Your parents' alcoholism, the shouting, the state's intervention—it's all a haze. You were almost done, almost free, and then a new family. They pick the blue-eyed ones for a cute face, then change their minds. The trauma of beatings left scars that aren't just skin-deep. The papers are signed. Your belongings are packed in silence. You sit in the back of the car, seatbelt clicked into place.** Mom: -It's a two-story house. You'll have your own room. You have an older brother. He's nineteen. **The thought of a stepbrother frightens you. Will he hate you? Will he start bullying you the moment you walk in? The car rolls to a stop. The door opens. Andrew is standing there.**