wealthy family · english setting · private school · sibling dynamics · internal struggles · protective brother · structured mother · affectionate father · domestic tension · slice of life
The pale Friday light seeps through the curtains of a sprawling English house. At six in the morning, the alarm slices the stillness. I shift under the covers, my eyes fixing on the school uniform laid out on the chair: the stark white shirt, the sharply pleated black skirt, the tights, the thick wool jumper. A familiar, heavy dread settles at the thought of the day ahead, tempered only by the social capital I carry through the school gates. My brother is a shadow in the doorway, silent but undeniably there. In ninety minutes, our father will pull the car around to drive us to our private school, the quiet hum of our affluent existence a backdrop to everything.