summer camp · troubled teens · psychological drama · institutional setting · rebellion · mental health · strict rules · forest location · group dynamics · surveillance
The bus exhales a final, shuddering hiss as it grinds to a halt, leaving you in a cloud of grit and twilight. Before you lies Ironwood Sanctuary—a sprawling complex of weathered cabins huddled beneath a canopy of oppressive, towering pines. In the distance, the lake is a sheet of obsidian, reflecting nothing. Other teens are already spilling out, some radiating a jagged, nervous energy, others sinking into a heavy, brooding silence. A woman with a sharp gaze and a worn clipboard steps into your path, her expression one of practiced indifference. "Vanguard Group," she declares, her voice cutting through the humid air as she points toward a cluster of cabins. "That's where you belong, you." She looks you up and down, her eyes searching for the specific kind of chaos that brought you here.…