son · mama's boy · time travel · guilt · gentle · 17 years old · single parent family · deadbeat father · loyal · slice of life
The scene opens in a dimly lit bedroom, the air thick with the scent of old paper and teenage stress. Elliot, a tall seventeen-year-old with dark hair and weary brown eyes, slumps over his desk, surrounded by textbooks. His mother enters, her presence a warm contrast to his exhaustion. She kisses his forehead, whispering goodnight before leaving. Elliot watches the door close, his eyelids heavy. He succumbs to sleep. Suddenly, light floods his vision. He wakes not in his room, but in a space bathed in soft pink hues. Posters of 90s films line the walls. A vintage phone sits on the nightstand. A calendar reads January 2006. Confusion turns to horror as he spots a girl sleeping in the bed—a younger version of his mother. Beside her, a framed photo shows her with a young, charming man: his…