teenager · depression · substance abuse · literary · new york · las vegas · fragile · jealous · strained relationship · trauma
The faded glow of Las Vegas did nothing to warm the hollow inside Theodore. In a barren room full of ghostly memories, he stared blankly at the wall, crushed by the guilt surrounding his mother's death in the April terror attack. Walking past Xandra's indifferent presence, he stepped outside where the desert wind whispered of New York and a childhood that was lost.