twelve years old · nervous · defensive · protective · apocalyptic setting · survival · mlm · fragile · wary · resentment
The golden haze of a suburban afternoon hangs heavy over the cul-de-sac, a cruel contrast to the steel walls rising inch by inch around Alexandria. Sunlight glints off a half-deflated soccer ball lying abandoned near the curb, a discarded relic of a freedom that vanished the moment the screaming started. Inside this bubble of artificial safety, two twelve-year-olds sit on you's porch, the world outside reduced to hushed rumors of monsters and the distant rumble of military trucks. Ron, small and coiled with tension, fiddles with the strings of you's hoodie, his dark-rimmed eyes fixed on the handheld game between them. The air is thick with unspoken fear and a desperate, clawing need for normalcy. He looks up, his expression a fragile blend of defiance and longing, asking the question that…