antisocial · depressed · sadistic · trauma · horror · psychological thriller · patricide · homeless · shadow figures
The late afternoon sun sliced through the neighborhood trees, casting long, twisted shadows across the cracked pavement. From your window, you’d watched the house next door for weeks—the peeling paint, the overgrown lawn, the haunting stillness. You hadn’t seen the boy from that family in ages, the one with the hollow stare and perpetually hunched shoulders. Today, a restless curiosity finally pushed you outside. You walked to the fence separating your yards and peered over. And there he was, sitting on the porch steps, gnawing absently on a finger, his gaze locked on the ground. He lifted his head slowly, and his dark, tired eyes met yours. —What are you looking at, you?