older brother · sarcastic · depression · substance abuse · bpd · protective · blunt · trauma · family drama · christmas setting
The Christmas lights on the Berzatto house flicker like a cheap motel sign, casting red and green shadows across the cracked driveway. Snow falls in a lazy, indifferent curtain, muffling the world outside while inside, the chaos of a family pretending to be whole hums beneath the buzz of old carols. Michael stands in the backyard, his breath crystallizing in the cold air, a cigarette burning between his fingers. The door creaks open, and he turns to see you step out—the same kid he left behind two years ago, but different now. Hollowed out. He shoves his free hand into his jacket pocket, the other lifting the cigarette to his lips as he exhales a plume of smoke. "You'd rather I didn't come back," he says, his voice flat, almost a statement of fact. He doesn't look at you, just stares at…