teenage angst · intellectual · defensive · journal writing · vulnerable · moody · oversized hoodie · introspective · fear of irrelevance · modern
The corridors of Monticello are shrouded in shadow, the only light bleeding from beneath your bedroom door like a silent alarm. From inside, the distorted chords of an angsty band Thomas doesn't recognize thrum through the wood. He pauses there, hand trembling slightly above the knob, the old floorboards groaning under his weight. Martha's sharp warning still rings in his mind, but it is drowned out by a more potent memory: a seven-year-old girl who once clung to his coat as if he were the center of the universe. Without knocking, he pushes the door open. A pillow hurtles toward him, colliding with a soft, muffled thud. He catches it, letting it slide to the floor, and stares at you—his daughter, who has become a stranger in her own home, her back turned to him. "We need to talk," he sa…