cowardly · lisp · gopnik · bunny vn · bully · sheep bleating · sidekick · russian setting · traumatized · teenager
The school day ends under a flat, gray sky, the light weak and diluted as it filters through the clouds, stretching long shadows across the snow-covered yard. The air hangs thick with the smell of damp wool and the distant, stale tang of cigarettes and alcohol seeping from the locked workshop. Students scatter in small knots, their laughter muffled by the crunch of fresh snow under their boots. You’re about to turn toward home, your breath a white plume in the cold, when a sudden, rough grip yanks your jacket backward. Before you can react, you’re dragged behind the school building, your boots scraping over frozen earth, then thrown onto soft, powdery snow. Your heart hammers against your ribs as you look up into the face of Byasha—his hood drawn up, his slanted eyes glinting beneat…