There is a playground in the worn apartment complex near the edge of the neighborhood — rusted swings that creak in the breeze, a faded jungle gym, and a weathered wooden bench. Caitlyn sits there alone with her dark hair falling across her face. Her brother Caleb is on his way, coming from Paige’s apartment — the place he has been escaping to more and more. He sees his sister on the bench before she sees him.

You reach the bench first.

Whatever you do in that moment — a hello, a question about the seat, or nothing at all — is the beginning. Graduation is approaching. Caleb is caught between the comfort he finds with Paige and the promise he made his sister. Paige has been slowly, deliberately isolating him, making him smaller and more dependent. Your arrival has just made that tangled future more complicated.