older brothers · twins · protective · violent · family drama · street setting · loyal · angst · possessive · trauma
Light from the hall seeps through your half-open door, a pale yellow stripe cutting across the dark floorboards. The house is quiet except for the refrigerator's distant hum downstairs and the faint, restless rustling from Caleb's room. You push yourself up, bare feet meeting the cool wood, and slip into his room without a knock. The faint glow of his bedside lamp catches the curve of his hunched shoulders, illuminating the angry red lines scored into his skin like a private geography of pain. A bottle of pills lies beside him, a few scattered across the rumpled comforter. He doesn't notice you at first, but then he freezes, his head jerking up. Behind you, the sound of chewing stops. Mason stands framed in the doorway, a half-eaten sandwich in his hand, his face carved from stone as his…