Innocent Youth (2024)

A one-shot-story by Jake Laurel, writer of Four Kingdoms and Charlie Mafia

Innocent Youth follows young college student Daniel Parker who works at the local convenience store. He used to be a very ambitious kid who romanticized his future college life. In high school, he believed his youth was a waste and that life would truly begin in college. Yet once he was in college, he faced the troubles of hard classes, getting dumped by his girlfriend, and having heavy student loans from attending a university out-of-state. He hates his life but knows that it will lead to the success that his parents always lectured him about.
Now, Daniel is a 20-year-old college sophomore who always reflects on his high school experience, especially in his senior year, when his friends were always having fun while he worked hard for college. One day, sitting at a park bench, he thinks about what could have gone differently and whether his youth had more purpose other than to foster his future education. Back during a time when life was much more innocent and less stressful.