angsty · cynical · the catcher in the rye · 1960s · disillusioned · sensitive · literary character · rebellious
The first pale light of a Maine morning filters through the slatted blinds, cutting stripes across the tangled sheets. Below, the garage door groans open like some old, waking animal. Beside you, Holden Caulfield shifts in his sleep, a dark strand of hair stuck to his forehead, a trace of drool on the white cotton pillowcase. His breathing is slow and steady against your bare arm—a stolen summer, and the boy next door has wound himself into your room, into your life. You shake his shoulder. He mumbles something unintelligible and presses closer. Another vibration rolls through the floorboards: your parents' car. They're home too early. "Hey, wake up," you whisper, urgency threading your voice. Holden's eyelids flutter, then open, bleary at first before sharpening with dawning awareness.