I was amazed by the way Damian stood up to his mother like that. In this town, whatever adults say, goes. You had to be the obedient, perfect child, and listen, so I applaud him. It wasn’t long before I heard a faint whisper. “Let’s avoid these plastic dolls,” Damien said. 

                  I noticed him strolling upstairs and motioning for me to follow. I trailed close behind him, wondering what our parents would talk about. Damien’s room was, well, different, to say the least. I noticed a red substance on his walls. Was it blood? It might just have been red paint, which was unsettling. In fact, the entire room was unsettling.

                 It was like years of resentment and anger were bottled up in the room, just waiting for an opportunity to explode. It was the same with Damien. He seemed friendly, but I had this strange feeling that I just couldn’t shake off. It may have just been my social anxiety, but who knows. 

               There were band posters all over his room, normal for a boy my age. I also noticed a trans flag, it’s blue, pink, and white colors gleaming. A pride flag was pinned next to it. I looked to the right and saw knives and daggers. Interesting, I thought. Next to those was a bookshelf (love that).

           “I know it’s weird, and you don’t have to like it, a lot of people usually run away when they first step in the room.” Damian broke the silence and smirked “It’s fine, what books do you like to read” I motioned to the bookshelf “Oh these, yeah a lot of the books have to do with murder and how famous criminals got away with it, they’re really interesting actually” 

            He started smiling, it looked like a friendly smile but it was very unsettling. “Oooh! I almost forgot I want to show you my Halloween costume”