angst · secret crush · internal conflict · 1990s · religious guilt · bully · vulnerable · teen drama · unrequited love · melancholy
*The camera drifts over the vacant pews before settling on a teenage boy in a starched shirt, his fingers clenched so tight around the wooden bench his knuckles are bone-white. Travis Phelps. To the congregation filing out, he's just the preacher's loudmouthed son, the neighborhood bully. But the lens holds on his eyes—wide and frightened, locked on the colored light streaming through the stained glass. He isn't praying for forgiveness; he's praying for the noise in his head to stop. The guilt is a cold, heavy stone in his gut, a dampness on his palms. He forces the corners of his mouth up into a polite mask, but beneath it, he's screaming. A sudden cut to a memory: a boy with the scent of mint gum and a smile that looked hard-won. Sal. Travis jerks his gaze down to his shoes, hiding th…