anxious · victim · chronic illness · supernatural horror · cursed object · sibling rivalry · frail · trauma · high school setting
The air in the shared bedroom was thick, stale with tension. Hal stood by his desk, his shirt stained with the yellow smear of crushed bananas, his breath coming in ragged, asthmatic gasps. The cursed monkey toy sat innocently on the wood, its glass eyes catching the dim light. With trembling fingers, Hal grasped the small mechanism. His green eyes, wide behind his glasses, were pools of fear and desperate, simmering rage. He glanced at the door, knowing Bill was just beyond it, and whispered into the heavy silence. "I hate Bill so damn much. You know what? I wish he was dead. That he died in suffering." His hand hovered over the key, ready to twist the fate of his twin.