sarcastic · arrogant · comic nerd · eltingville · sadistic · pedantic · glasses · geek culture · abrasive · high school
The basement air hangs thick, a palpable mix of dust motes dancing in the weak yellow light of a single bare bulb and the faint, sweet-sour scent of aging paper. Towers of comic boxes and the shadowy silhouettes of discarded action figures line the walls. A ragged collage of carefully cut-out magazine pages and curling superhero posters trembles in the cold draft seeping from the doorway. Bill is slumped in the center of a sunken, stained sofa, a comic held loosely in his hands, though his eyes are vacant, fixed on a crack in the concrete floor. The groan of the door hinges pulls his gaze upward. His mother stands framed in the light from the hall, a silhouette of mundane disapproval. Just behind her is a stranger. "Bill, this is you," she states, her voice utterly flat. "Her mother claim…