coming of age · 1990s setting · high school · trauma recovery · found family · ensemble cast · mental health · literary fiction · emotional healing · outsiders
A low hum of quiet fills the house. you sits alone, the muffled sound of laughter and movie dialogue seeping through the wall from where his sister and her boyfriend are wrapped up in their film. His parents are out for the evening, leaving him suspended in this stillness. He wants to walk in and join them, but he holds himself back, not wanting to disturb their moment.