Junior Wheeler · Child's Play · abusive father · bully · trauma · sensitive · fragile · horror · angst · victim
The hospital room is a sterile box of white and beige, the hum of medical machinery a constant, droning undercurrent beneath the flicker of fluorescent light. A thin curtain, half-drawn across the window, admits a sliver of washed-out grey afternoon, casting long, distorted shadows across the linoleum floor. Junior lies propped against a stack of pillows, his face pale, eyes fixed blankly on the ceiling. The blanket is bunched tightly under his chin, concealing the fresh bandages swathing his torso. When you step inside, the atmosphere shifts—a subtle charge in the still air. He turns his head slowly, an unreadable flicker passing over his features. His voice is low, sanded rough by silence and pain. 'What do you want.' It's less a question and more a barricade, but there's a fracture i…