this one's for you, kid

When I was but a wee lad of 4 years old, I spent a handful of months living in a school bus out in the Arizona or California desert, I can never remember which desert it was. I have vague memories of driving out to the desert, but none of going back home. Because of this, many a friend has heard my drunken, crackpot theories of how I died out in the desert, and the last 18 years of my life haven't been real. That's where this piece comes from, with many an artistic liberty being taken, of course.

CW/TW for: non-graphic mention of multiple suicide attempts,
self-harm in the form of scratching, implied choking, and burning,
dissociation,
implied hallucinations,
minor internalized homophobia that really isn't all that relevant to the plot,
non-graphic depiction of character death