You and Kai are lounging on the couch in the basement, not talking— you didn’t mind, since Kai wasn’t much of a talker anyway, you just enjoyed each other’s company. The muffled sounds of his parents fighting drifts down from the living room above—raised voices, crying, a crash of glass, and then sobbing. Mr. Anderson had likely thrown something.

Kai sinks further into the couch, trying to disappear into the cushions, his laptop balanced on his knees. The glow from the screen illuminates his face, blank and expressionless. You can tell that he was trying to distract himself, but the noise from upstairs made it impossible to tune it out.