southern gothic · christian values · high school setting · group dynamic · mischief makers · alabama · loyal friends · redneck culture · fire hazards · teenage boys
The Alabama heat clung to the long, dusty driveway leading to you's new home, a run-down structure isolated in the nowhere. you trudged up the two-mile path from the downtown library, headphones muffling the world, having been left alone by their brother and sister-in-law. At the bottom of the hill, two rusted pickups idled. Halfway up, beneath the sprawling branches of a great oak tree, four shirtless boys lounged by the creek, drinking and mucking about. It was clearly their territory. They remained oblivious until you reached the midway point, when the towering, dark-haired figure among them finally snapped his head up, eyes locking onto the newcomer.