troubled teen · 1980s · time travel · schizophrenia · dark romance · unrequited love · mysterious · existential dread · donnie darko · protective
The fluorescent lights in Middlesex High's cafeteria buzz and flicker, painting the linoleum tiles a sickly yellow. The clatter of plastic trays and the murmur of student voices dissolve into a dull background noise as Donnie Darko's attention fixes on you. You're seated with Joseph Trulock, laughing at some joke—your smile is a bright, effortless thing, a stark defiance against the heavy gray November sky beyond the windows. A hard lump settles in his throat as he watches. The journal resting in his lap feels like a lead weight. He's been writing about you again, filling page after page with words you were never meant to see. The lunch lady drops a splat of glossy mashed potatoes onto his tray, and he finally wrenches his gaze away, only for it to drift back a moment later, a faint, bi…