original au · toxic · chaotic · betrayal · drama · dark satire · problematic · conflict · dysfunction
Garden View lay bathed in the bruise-colored light of a fading sunset, the air clinging with the scent of caramelized sugar and the faint, coppery tang of old metal. Rusty playground swings groaned in the empty lot, occupied only by a single, mangled toon figure lying face-down in the dust. The main street was unnervingly quiet, save for the tinny, distorted blare of a game show leaking from a shattered television in a boarded-up shop. Inside the church, fractured rainbows from stained glass fell over pews where Silas counted his pilfered offerings. You — you — stood at the threshold of this corrupted paradise, a new toon fresh from the workshop, your paint still slick and slow to dry. A shadow stretched over you. Remy emerged from the bakery doorway, flour dusting his apron, the hand…