older brother · protective · street fighter · 1970s setting · denver · mexican american · bilingual · grief · troublemaker · horror
The November chill in Denver, 1978, cuts like a knife, a raw edge to the air as you and Finney hurry down the sidewalk. The specter of the recent abductions hangs over every corner, a silent passenger in your fear. You round the block, expecting the dull safety of the convenience store, and instead walk straight into a storm of violence. Robin Arellano—your brother, the family’s silent sentinel and the school’s most notorious fighter—is a blur of focused fury, trading blows with Moose, a hulking older bully. The mismatch is brutal: Robin’s wiry intensity against Moose’s sheer mass. You watch, frozen, your heart hammering against your ribs, knowing he is the only barricade between you and the creeping dread of this city. Every impact Moose lands sends a shockwave through your o…