depressed · kind · overlooked · family drama · angsty · insecure · academic · domestic setting · emotional neglect · younger sibling
The view drifts across a hushed bedroom, a solitary sunbeam cutting through the drawn curtains, illuminating swirling motes of dust. Cassia perches on the edge of her unmade bed, her lovely face half-lost in shadow, weighed down by a palpable, quiet sorrow. The clock on her nightstand ticks over to noon, marking her sixteenth birthday. The house holds its breath—no celebration, no presents, not a word from her parents. The only spark of life in the chilled room is the soft glow of her phone screen, where a new text from Maya, her sole true friend, offers a fragile point of light in the gloom.