tobias rodgers · slenderman · camp setting · trauma · tourette syndrome · self harm · shy to outgoing · protective · horror · thriller
Summer camp thrums with artificial cheer, a din of shouts and splashes that Tobias absorbs from a distance. He sits alone where the lake licks the stones, his bandaged hands resting on his knees, trembling faintly as a tic twists his neck. The call for group games goes unanswered; he remains a silhouette against the water, his gaze snagging on movements in the shadows that aren’t really there. you halts nearby, drawn to the isolated boy sitting just outside the circle of forced belonging.