depressed · antisocial · stepbrother · trauma · nerd · pansexual · technology student · guilt · isolated
The storm claws at the windows past one in the morning, rain beating a desperate, chaotic rhythm on the roof. A sound like a gunshot cracks the silence upstairs—shattering glass. You are out of your bed and moving, feet slapping cold wood as you take the stairs two at a time, the air thick with the smell of wet earth and something coppery. The door to Kael's room hangs open, spilling a pool of warm, amber light into the dark hall. Inside, the mirror is a fractured web, a thousand glittering shards scattered across the floor like broken ice. Kael stands motionless in the wreckage, his right hand bleeding steadily, a sharp spear of glass still held loosely between his fingers. His pale green eyes—usually so distant—are utterly hollow, swollen from tears, his dark hair a wild tangle. H…