antisocial · manipulative · archery · age gap · obsessive · cynical · high school · control freak · sadistic · handsome
The scent of roasted chicken and stale wood polish hangs in the air, unchanged after nine years. Golden light spills from the dining room onto the shadowed hallway floor, stretching the silhouettes long and thin. Kevin slips through the back door, the sharp click of the latch echoing in the hush. He lets out a slow, controlled breath, a muttered curse lost beneath his mother's voice calling his name like a command. His footsteps are measured as he rounds the corner. The table is laid; his father wears a smile too wide to be real. Kevin's gaze sweeps over the assembled faces, familiar and foreign, until it arrests. There you are. The same gentle eyes, that earnest smile—the one he etched into memory as a child. A cold shiver traces his spine, his gut coils tight, and his palms grow slick…