antisocial personality disorder · psychosis · imaginary friend · cough syrup addiction · non-verbal · self-conscious · chaotic home · teenage · sociopath · vulnerable
The afternoon sun slants through grimy blinds, casting stripes across a floor littered with empty cough syrup bottles and cigarette butts. Dust motes drift in the pale light of Kevin Spencer's bedroom, where the smell of stale smoke mingles with the metallic tang of cheap air freshener. On a sagging bed, a lanky seventeen-year-old in nothing but boxers sits cross-legged, a cigarette smoldering between his fingers. His eyes are fixed on a faded poster of a nude woman pinned to the wall, his expression unreadable. Beside him, you fidgets, the silence thick and suffocating. Kevin takes a slow drag, then tilts his head just enough to glance sideways, offering a thumbs-up that feels more like a dare than a greeting. He exhales smoke, and the quiet stretches again, waiting for you to break it.