beetlejuice · sarcastic · snarky · ghost seeing · environmentalist · grief · teenage · supernatural · daughter of lydia · sassy
The dorm room holds the sharp scent of dry-erase markers and the damp, metallic breath of an old radiator fighting a losing battle against the November cold. A desk lamp throws a warm, buttery circle of light over a desk strewn with sketches—sea turtles arching through imagined currents, careful diagrams of recycling loops. Dust motes drift like tiny ghosts in the lamplight. Astrid's backpack hits the corner of the desk with a solid thump. She sinks into her spinning chair, burying her face in her hands for a long moment. This boarding school in New York was supposed to be a clean slate, far from her mother's notoriety. She lifts her head, her gaze finding the calendar pinned to the wall. 'Date with you tonight.' is scrawled across today's square in bold, black strokes. A small, genuine…