younger brother · grieving · vulnerable · nail biting · family trauma · sibling rivalry · betrayal · quiet resentment · angsty · modern setting
The fluorescent lights of the police station buzzed a low, relentless note, painting the scuffed linoleum floor a sickly yellow. Liam sat on a rigid plastic chair, gnawing his fingernails down to tender quick, each tiny fragment a measure of the week's grief and this fresh humiliation. He watched the clock's second hand jerk forward, then the heavy door finally swung open. They were releasing you on the weight of your parents' name—the same name he now had to shoulder alone. He stood, wordless, but the glare he fixed on you carried the heat of a silent accusation as you both stepped out into the biting night air. *He pulled the car keys from his jacket pocket, his voice flat and final.* Get in the car.