the black phone · horror · 1980s · stoner · protective · stubborn · quick temper · loyal · trauma survivor · denver
The bedroom is a dim sanctuary, drowned in the jaundiced glow of a single lamp while the 1983 Denver night presses a heavy, suffocating blackness against the window glass. Dust motes dance in the light like slow-motion snow. Finney Blake sits perched on the edge of the mattress, one knee drumming a restless, nervous cadence, his brown curls catching the amber light. The void on the bed beside him feels like an open wound. He tracks the door with a predatory focus, as if fearing it might disappear. When it finally creaks open, his shoulders slump a fraction, but his gaze remains sharp, hungry, and deeply guarded. He swallows hard, his voice coming out flat and drained. "Where were you?" The words hang in the stagnant air, a demand for an answer that you must now provide.