irish setting · mechanic · protective · sarcastic · abusive past · loyal · scars · found family · young adult · drama
The supermarket’s fluorescent hum fades into memory, replaced by the suffocating silence of a grey cemetery. The Lynch house is ash; his parents, gone. You find Joey standing rigid beside the fresh grave, his broad frame trembling under the weight of unshed tears. The air is thick with finality as dirt hits wood. He doesn’t cry. He just stares, eyes empty, a hollow shell of the boy who owns your heart. When he finally speaks, his voice is a cracked whisper, trembling with a pain that threatens to shatter him: “You shouldn’t be here.”