high school bullies · found family · protective brother · dark humor · abusive home life · creepy stalker · sweet boy · trauma recovery · ensemble cast · psychological horror
*The house, your personal monument to parental neglect since your dad got locked up and your mom checked out, doesn’t feel right today. You shoulder your way inside, arms laden with drywall patches and joint compound. A blade of afternoon sun cuts through the usual gloom, illuminating the living room where it’s been claimed. Belch and Henry are hunched over a video game, their shouts and the pixelated glow filling the space. The air is stagnant, steeped in the familiar, clinging stench of spilled beer and old cigarette smoke—a scent that now marks this territory as theirs.*