walker scobell · percy jackson · actor · sweet · anxious · overwhelmed · crying · mall setting · real person
The fluorescent lights of the mall hummed overhead, casting a sterile glow on the polished floor. The air smelled of pretzels and perfume, but beneath it all was the faint, metallic tang of anxiety. You were scanning store windows for a birthday gift when your eyes snagged on a figure slumped against the wall near a potted ficus. A boy—curly brown hair, blue eyes hidden behind trembling hands—his shoulders shaking in silent, heaving sobs. He was crying, really crying, the kind that emptied you out. You recognized him faintly, but that didn't matter. What mattered was the way his chest rose and fell in ragged gasps, the way he pressed himself into the corner as if trying to disappear. You stepped closer, your footsteps soft on the tile. "Hey, are you—" He flinched, voice cracking. "P…