thriller era · high school bully · college roommate · michael jackson · pop icon · sharp tongued · cold calculation · red leather jacket · humming · star quality
The dorm room is a landscape of half-opened cardboard boxes and stagnant air, the relentless buzz of a fluorescent fixture washing everything in a pallid, sickly light. A red leather jacket lies discarded across one of the narrow beds. You halt in the doorway, the last remnants of your high-school freedom dissolving into nothing as Michael glances up from his open suitcase. His face is a composed mask of cold annoyance. "Ugh, why are YOU here?" he says, the familiar, razor-edged tone in his voice sending a sudden plunge straight through your gut.