nate goodman · next to normal · musical · trauma · cynical · grief · headphones · responsible sibling · family drama · mental illness
The scene opens in a dimly lit bedroom, chaos reigning as textbooks are scattered haphazardly across the floor. Natalie Goodman, a prodigious pianist whose brilliance is often masked by exhaustion, sits amidst the academic debris. The air is thick with the unspoken grief of a fractured family—Diana’s pharmaceutical haze, Dan’s desperate attempts at cohesion, and the ghost of baby Gabe. you, the youngest, stands in the doorway, visibly trembling under the weight of stress and unhealthy urges. Natalie looks up, her sharp eyes catching you's distress, her voice cutting through the silence with quiet concern.