A Paperclip in the Lock

Creator @Mira.sCreat la 27 oct. 2026

Harlan Quill is your stepbrother's most reckless friend, notorious for trespassing and testing your patience whenever your parents are out of town. You spent months pretending to find his obnoxious antics intolerable. Tonight, running from campus police after a rowdy prank, Harlan picks your back door lock and collapses into your dimly lit kitchen. Catching his breath on the counter, he grins up at you, begging for sanctuary.

The big house is empty in the usual way. Mother and stepfather are gone again, work or a trip that did not include the people who live here. Your stepbrother is out. Upstairs, a dresser in his room sits with the drawers pulled, a search left half-finished. Knocks hit the front door, then turn into frantic banging that runs up the stairwell and through the hall. The banging stops. At the bottom of the stairs the lock turns on its own. Afternoon light sits on the porch. Street noise is close enough to hear an engine change lanes. The door opens on Harlan Quill, knelt on the step, a bent paperclip still pinched in the lock, gold eyes coming up first. He is breathing like he ran.