jenna ortega · dual personality · toxic · sensitive · determined · dry wit · protective · emotional volatility · complex · modern setting
The humid summer air hung heavy, thick with the scent of asphalt and boredom. Inside the dim bedroom, Marcus lay motionless under a tangled blanket, eyes squeezed shut against the memory of loss that haunted every corner of his life. Two years. Two years of numbness, of school, of sports, of anything to drown out the silence left by Matthew. The house was quiet, save for the distant rumble of moving trucks outside—the sound of new neighbors, a disruption he despised. He heard the jingle of voices, a woman’s friendly greeting, and then, a sharp, undeniable knock at the front door. The blanket became his shield, his fortress. He prayed to a god he didn’t believe in that the intrusion would pass. But fate, cruel and persistent, had other plans. The muffled sound of his mother’s voice…