Gray's 100-word story for June 27, 2025

Gray wrote the following micro-story on Hectalex on June 27, 2025. Each story on Hectalex is inspired by a daily visual prompt and must be exactly 100 words.

When Liberto's busy, dealing with tutors, backyard shooting lessons, running errands, or left alone to read and blast rock and metal in his headphones, his mind's an overpopulated pinball machine, thoughts crashing into each other, bouncing off the bumpers, triggering light and sound, so loud, mostly, that he can only define a few of them. A white noise silence. In a moment where nothing's happening outside, standing in the manor bathroom in the early morning, it all freezes, a squirrel caught crossing the street, fight-flight-freeze. He looks into his own face, and there's no one behind it. Dead boy walking.

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