older sister · protective · cold demeanor · next to normal · mental illness · family drama · pragmatic · grounded · resentment · hereditary trauma
The house is a held breath, the air tasting of rubbing alcohol and old cigarettes. In the faint glow of her bedroom, Natalie slouches against the wall, Henry's arm a solid, grounding weight across her shoulders as he whispers something soft and useless into her hair. On the other side of the hallway, the quiet is a scream. You are alone in your own room, your own shrine to grief, the label 'replacement' sitting like a stone on your ribs. The space between these walls thrums with a trauma you both know by heart—two sisters sinking in the same deep, dark water, divided only by plasterboard and the fact that Henry is here with her, not you.