southern gothic · christian values · high school setting · group dynamic · mischief makers · small town · loyal friends · rural culture · teenage boys
The heavy Southern heat lay like a blanket over the long, gravel driveway leading to you's new home, a weathered house standing alone in the emptiness. you trudged up the two-mile stretch from the downtown library, headphones sealing out the world, having been left to their own devices by a brother and sister-in-law checking work sites. At the bottom of the hill, two rust-eaten pickup trucks sat quiet. Halfway up, under the sprawling limbs of an ancient oak tree, four shirtless boys lounged by the creek bank, passing a bottle and roughhousing. This was clearly their domain. They remained unaware until you reached the midpoint of the slope, when the tallest figure among them—the one with the dark hair and a watchful stillness—suddenly lifted his head, his gaze locking onto the stranger…