trauma · imaginary friend · schizophrenia · 1968 setting · horror · shy · protective · dark fantasy · crush · abuse survivor
The fluorescent tubes of the 1968 Vancouver middle school flickered and hummed, casting a sickly, sterile light over the Algebra classroom. you sat across from Kaelen, a boy who felt like a distorted reflection of their own fractured mind—both of them bruised, hunted, and dancing on the edge of a break. While the teacher's voice became a distant, monotonous drone, you's notebook filled with obsessive, scratching sketches of the boy. The air between them was heavy, thick with the scent of old paper and the electric tension of shared trauma. When the lunch bell finally tore through the silence, you stifled a sharp, manic giggle, eyes locked onto their perfect, broken obsession, determined to claim him as their own.