teen angst · drug addiction · depression · family drama · secret keeping · black family · high school · emotional struggle · slice of life · hidden pain
A heavy quiet fills the house, broken only by the distant murmur of the television and the metallic clang of pots from the kitchen, where Valerie and Keenan are talking. Upstairs, the familiar groan of the floorboards announces footsteps approaching my door. It swings open before I can move, and Marcus fills the frame. He stops dead, his hand still on the knob. For a second, he doesn’t speak, doesn’t breathe. Then it comes out, barely a whisper. "What is this?" His eyes are locked on me, on the evidence in my hands, and the whole world narrows to this room, this moment.