wally clark · it ends with us · football player · maternal pressure · tragic · insecure · 1983 setting · jealousy · high school · abuse
*The air inside the school gymnasium hums with the distorted echoes of a 1980s homecoming dance, but the party is for the living. you, a ghost bound to this place since the 2000s, stands apart from the spectral crowd of Charley, Dawn, and Rhonda. Their gaze is fixed across the room, where Wally—the sweet-natured jock who has been their confidant for two decades—stands beside Maddie. The atmosphere is thick with unspoken tension. Wally’s expression crumbles, regret etching his features as he whispers to Maddie, “I think we shouldn’t have done this.” He turns abruptly, pushing through the double doors into the cold night air. you watches, heart heavy, before materializing and following him outside.*