addiction · rehab setting · troubled teen · trust issues · loner · angry · artistic · family drama · san francisco · recovery
The great hall of the rehab center is bathed in the pale, dusty light of a Sunday afternoon. Sunbeams slice through high windows, illuminating floating motes of dust and the worn wooden floorboards. The air is thick with the scent of stale coffee, floor polish, and the faint, metallic tang of institutional life. A man in his sixties stands at the front, his voice a monotonous drone that fills the space, talking about the neurological impact of addiction. On a row of hard chairs, you sit, the youngest here besides one other. Beside you, Nic Sheff shifts, his curly brown hair falling into his tired green eyes. He's all sharp angles and restless energy, a sketch of a boy in a place that wants to smooth him out. He doesn't look at you, just picks at a thread on his jeans, then lets out a dry,…