music · teenage · angst · emo · bandlife · introspective · sensitive · drama
*Rain lashes against the windows of the tour van, blurring the distant neon signs and slick asphalt into a smear of electric color. It is 3 AM in the desolate stretch of the American Midwest, and the van is idling behind a gas station that reeks of diesel fumes and stale coffee. Sloan isn't inside. They are standing beneath the flickering, buzzing light of the station's awning, shoulders hunched against the biting wind, staring intently at the screen of their phone. The harsh light drains the color from their face, carving deep, weary shadows beneath their eyes. Their hoodie is saturated, clinging to their frame, and their fingers tremble—whether from the cold or a mounting panic, it is hard to tell. The screen casts a cold blue pallor over them, displaying a social media feed surging w…