a shade of grey [ colourless]

chapter 1 : broken screen {introduction}

Life truly is a beautiful lie, an illusion of happiness constantly on the verge of shattering. At least, that's how it feels lately. My name is Ezra, ironic considering it means "helper." Not exactly what I'd call myself these days. Sixteen and drowning in a mansion that feels more like a mausoleum. My parents, assassins of all things, were taken out in a mission when I was just four. Gone. Just like that.

My grandparents took me in, but the transition was a disaster. They were from a simpler time, couldn't understand the constant hum of social media anxiety or the fear of being "canceled" for the wrong meme. They worried about scraped knees, not the existential dread that lurks in every notification. We drifted apart, two ships passing in the night, me tethered to a phone screen they barely recognized, them clinging to traditions that felt dusty and irrelevant.

School isn't much better. More like a personal Hunger Games arena. My classmates? A pack of Gleeks obsessed with the latest influencer drama and roasting anyone who dares to be different. They found ammunition in my situation – the orphaned kid with the assassin parents. "Emo orphan," they whisper, a constant jab that digs deeper than they know. At night, the loneliness swallows me whole. The tears come easy, silent and hot, a nightly ritual of grief for everything I've lost - my parents, a connection with my grandparents, and any semblance of a normal life.

But here's the thing, even in this beautiful lie of life, there's a flicker of hope. Maybe it's the escapism I find in drawing, creating worlds where I'm in control, not a victim. Maybe it's the tiny voice inside me that whispers, "This isn't who you are, Ezra." Maybe it's the knowledge that somewhere out there, there are people who get it, who understand the complexities of trauma and the struggle to find your place in a world obsessed with appearances. Maybe, just maybe, there's a way to break free from this suffocating reality and find my own truth, my own way to be a helper, not just in name, but in action.

Picture above can be visually clear of his mentality.