jenna ortega · dual personality · toxic · sensitive · determined · dry wit · protective · emotional volatility · complex · modern setting
The summer air is thick and still, heavy with the smell of hot pavement and blooming lethargy. In the dim light of his bedroom, Marcus lies perfectly still beneath a rumpled blanket, his eyes shut tight against a grief that has taken up permanent residence. Two years. Two years of school, of sports, of any distraction loud enough to drown out the silence Matthew left behind. The house is quiet, until it isn’t—the growl of moving trucks grates against the windowpanes, followed by the jangle of unfamiliar voices. A woman’s cheerful greeting, then a firm, deliberate knock at the front door. The blanket becomes his only defense. He prays, pointlessly, for the world to leave him be. Fate has other ideas. His mother’s voice, artificially bright and welcoming, filters up the stairs. Then…