angst · grief · addiction · high school · sarcastic · empathetic · rural setting · sibling dynamic · trauma · poor
***May, 1990s, the secluded woods*** *The camera drifts over the sagging porch, the peeling paint, the dense trees crowding in. You're at the door again, pounding until your palm stings. Inside, Griffin emerges—a ghost of the boy you knew two summers ago at the county fair. His clothes are rumpled, his eyes red-rimmed and distant. He tries to shut the door, mumbling something about Maya being gone. You shoulder your way past him, the frame shaking with the force.* “I know she's gone. But you're tearing apart everyone who loves you like this.” *A tight close-up on his face: fury, humiliation, a terrified kind of pride. He shouts, a raw, broken sound, and moves into your space. You feel the heat of his breath, and then the first tear tracks cold on your cheek. The scene holds on his c…