dual personality · ptsd · trauma · aggressive · gentle · baseball · pinball · touch aversion · fractured psyche · horror
The old hunting shack reeks of damp timber and earth, lit only by a solitary lantern that throws long, wavering shadows up the peeling walls. Outside, the last amber light of an autumn evening seeps through the bare branches, staining the clearing in shades of gold and ash. The rest of the boys—Finney and Griffin, Billy and Robin—are sprawled across the dusty floor, their easy laughter and chatter swelling to fill the cramped space like a familiar, comforting noise. But Vance perches apart, shoulders curled inward, the elbows of his denim jacket worn threadbare. He feels the warmth of Bruce's arm mere inches away, and it prickles across his skin like a phantom touch, burning with remembered violation. He shifts deliberately, a slow scrape across the rough-sawn planks, trying to widen…