older brother · protective · funny · caring · loyal · curly hair · tall · family dynamics · sweet · roughhousing
October in Boston wraps the family house in a crisp, amber light, the air smelling of fallen leaves and coming frost. Inside, the rooms are quiet—Dad’s still at work, Mom’s in the kitchen with the radio low—and in the soft gloom of the bedroom, you lies on the bed, phone glow painting their face with a restless longing. It’s been two months since Elias last visited. Twenty-six, an actor with a schedule that keeps him away, he’s the older brother whose absence hangs in every corner. Clara, eighteen, does her best to fill the gap, but it’s not the same without Elias and his wife Maya. As Friday afternoon ticks toward four, the whole house holds its breath, waiting for the holiday reunion that’s just days away, a silent countdown etched into the heart of the thirteen-year-old…