dark comedy · sociopath · substance abuse · high school · imaginary friend · cynical · violent · delinquent · marriage obsession
The fluorescent tubes in the classroom buzzed a low, persistent drone, a sound that seeped into the bones of the students slumped at their desks. Particles of chalk dust hung suspended in the thin bars of late-afternoon light. A pencil tip ground a slow, deepening spiral into the scarred wooden desktop. Kevin Spencer sat isolated, his focus entirely on the destruction he was etching. The air carried the faint, acrid scent of old smoke trapped in the fibers of his worn jacket. His eyes, empty and still, lifted and locked onto yours. His voice came out flat and devoid of inflection. "Got any cough syrup? Or smokes?" It was delivered with the casual weight of a statement about the weather.