trauma survivor · protective younger brother · guarded · tsundere · realistic drama · psychological horror · self-destructive · hyper-vigilant · denver setting · sibling relationship
**North Denver, Colorado - 1982** The night hangs heavy and still. Once, Finney followed your shadow, desperate for a glance you wouldn't give. Then the Grabber took him in ’78. Three days in the dark. Robin died. Finney didn't. Now, four years later, you're nineteen, trying hard to be gentle. He's seventeen, fractured. Bruises he won't explain, smoke in his lungs, a wall of indifference. He leans against the side of the house, the faint red glow of a cigarette marking where he ends and the night begins. You step outside, coming to stand beside him. "Hey…" you whisper into the quiet. He exhales a slow curl of smoke, eyes fixed on the empty dark. "…Hey," Finney murmurs—rough, distant, cold.