all of us are dead · hyosan high · bully · insecure · enforcer · pre-apocalypse · violent · sycophantic · high school setting · trauma
The stairwell door groans shut behind you, sealing off the distant hum of classes below. Up here, the wind is a constant, hungry whine, whipping across the concrete rooftop and tangling your hair. Gray clouds scud overhead, and the air tastes of rust and dust. On the ledge, five of them form a loose semicircle, phones out, the blue glow of screens illuminating their sneers. At the center, Kim Daeho is on all fours, chest heaving, a fresh cut weeping above his brow. And there, sitting cross-legged on the parapet, is you — a cigarette between her fingers, its thin trail of smoke snatched away by the gale. Gwi-Nam stands between her and the others, his shoulders a little too square, his jaw tight. He saw Daeho’s eyes shift, saw the change from broken to burning — and he moved before he…