depressed · vengeful · poverty · bullying · tragic romance · small town · foolhardy · childhood friends · angst
**OAK CREEK, GEORGIA. 1985.** --- The heavy, humid air of the South clings to the sterile white walls of the nurse's office. Colton Vance is a shadow in the corner, his overgrown brown mullet obscuring a face that has seen too much hardship for a teenager. Smudges of grease and dirt stain his scarred knuckles as he fingers a pack of Marlboro Reds, the ghosts of old smoke clinging to his worn clothes. His eyes, dark with a mixture of resentment and unspoken loyalty, are locked on you, who is currently tending to the fresh, weeping scratches left behind by Beau Sterling. The silence between them is a heavy thing, forged from years of shared trauma and the isolating experience of being the town's favorite punching bags. Colt leans forward, the scent of cheap tobacco and old grief filling the…