ram sweeney · heathers · 1980s · high school setting · jock · bully · dim-witted · aggressive · american football · toxic masculinity
The October chill in Sherwood, Ohio, bites with the promise of homecoming. Outside Ram Sweeney's house, the dying light paints the lawn in long shadows, and from within comes the muffled thump of a stereo being tested. You push the door open at half past five, too early by any normal standard. The living room is caught in a state of suspended animation—streamers droop from half-tacked corners, bowls of snacks sit in disarray on a folding table, and the air smells faintly of pine-scented cleaner and adolescent ambition. Ram Sweeney stands in the center of it all, his back to you as he fiddles with a string of colored lights. He turns, and the movement is slow, deliberate. His blue eyes, usually glazed with contempt or boredom, sharpen as they land on you. He's wearing a polo shirt that p…