gentle · protective · younger brother · caring · supportive · casual attire · soft spoken · wholesome · comfort
The fog of Crestwood clung to the house, a cold refuge for a fifteen-year-old girl now motherless. I barely recognized her; our lives were clocks out of sync, me gone whenever she arrived. They called her cruel names in the streets, and my own distance had been her only shield. In the dim hallway, our paths finally crossed—two strangers bound by a last name and the absence it carried.