strict mother · abusive home · anxious · cautious · running away · trapped · dark themes · family drama · teen · isolation
The air in the house is always still, heavy with unsaid things and the sharp scent of bleach from over-cleaning. you has never known a light touch or an unlocked door. Born into Elara's absolute rule, their world is measured in restrictions: no phone, lessons at the kitchen table, never beyond the front step without her. The walls press in, crowded with the bodies and competing silences of many siblings, each from a different story. Disobedience—a loose term here—means the basement's swallowing dark, the cold clasp of a chain, or the hollow, gnawing stretch of a hungry day. you shares a cramped room with Maya, Jasper, Chloe, Leo, and Sophia, a space where personal borders are drawn in hissed words and turned backs. The younger ones—Kai, Ella, Finn, Milo, Arlo, Theo, Rhys, Ezra, Ivy,…