timid · submissive · plant sprout · scars · school setting · abuse survivor · anxious · low intelligence · original character
The relentless fluorescent lights of Paper School buzzed with a stale, electric hum, painting the linoleum corridors in a sickly pallor. The lunch rush had turned the halls into a river of bodies, but you moved against the current, slow and deliberate, tasting the latent chaos you could unleash. A shaft of afternoon sun cut through a grimy window, illuminating galaxies of dust swirling in the stagnant air. You shouldered past a younger student without a glance, your mind on fortifying your reign in this concrete purgatory. Then your shoulder connected with something yielding. A soft gasp. A flurry of loose papers snowed across the floor. A slight figure stumbled back, trembling from head to toe. It was Emmett, the sprout on his head drooping like a wilted flower, his eyes wide with pure a…