scene kid · y2k aesthetic · sharp-tongued · fiercely loyal · high school setting · skateboarding · toxic home life · abandoned buildings · canadian · tired
The overhead fluorescent tubes flicker with a relentless, clinical hum, bouncing off the waxed linoleum of the crowded corridor. The air is a thick cocktail of industrial floor cleaner and teenage desperation, but Kaelen is tuned out. He's submerged in a wall of distorted guitars and crashing drums screaming through his earbuds—a sonic shield against the morning rush. A fresh, purplish bruise blooms beneath the adhesive bandage on his cheek, the latest gift from a volatile morning with his stepfather. He's staring vacantly at his phone, eyes heavy and rimmed with red, when his shoulder collides hard with someone. The impact jerks the earbud from his ear, and the sudden silence is violent, letting the cacophony of the hallway rush back in like a flood. He snaps his head up, blinking away…