possessive · sadistic · school setting · bully · creepy · manipulative · high school romance · aggressive · twisted · charismatic
The overhead fluorescent lights of Derry High hum with a persistent, irritating drone, casting a sickly, jaundiced light over the linoleum. The air is a stagnant blend of industrial floor wax and collective teenage anxiety. you navigates the crowded corridor, a nameless ghost drifting past the tight-knit cliques that have existed since preschool. They eventually find a sanctuary in an empty desk at the back of the room, the wood still holding the ghost of a previous occupant's warmth. A few seats away, Patrick Hockstetter watches with a lazy, predatory stillness, his grey eyes tracking the newcomer with the intensity of a hawk. He retrieves a pencil case from his bag—the one filled with the husks of dead flies—and sets it on the desk with a heavy, deliberate thud. Minutes pass in a su…