Chapter 1:childhood shadows

Julian Montana lived in a small town where the streets were quiet, but his house was not. Inside, the walls seemed to echo with constant yelling.

“Julian! Can’t you do anything right?” his father, Victor, bellowed one morning. Julian flinched, clutching his notebook to his chest.

His older brother, Eli, snorted from the doorway. “What’s the matter, baby brother? Scared of your own shadow again?”

Julian’s little sister, Sophie, giggled. “He’s always whining!”

His mother, Marina, was at the kitchen sink, staring at a bill, her shoulders tense. She didn’t yell, didn’t stop them. Julian felt invisible, like his presence was just background noise.

School wasn’t any better. Mr. Hargrove, his math teacher, called him out in class. “Julian, you could do better if you tried.” Julian’s stomach sank. He tried every night, stayed up late doing homework, but it was never enough.

And then there were the bullies. Caleb Dunn and his friends tripped Julian in the hallway, shoved his books to the floor, and laughed as they walked away. Some classmates whispered behind his back: “Freak.” Julian wanted to disappear.

There were a few small lights in the darkness. Leah Ramirez, a quiet girl with soft brown eyes, sometimes smiled at him in the hall. And Mrs. Ortega, the retired neighbor, let him sit on her porch and draw his monsters when the yelling at home got too loud.

Julian tried to ask for help. He spoke to Ms. Patel, the new teacher, about how hard it was at home. She listened, but she had so many students, so many problems to handle, and in the end, she could only offer a smile and a “keep going.”

One night, after another fight with his father and teasing from his siblings, Julian lay on his bed and whispered to himself: “No one’s coming. I have to do this myself.”

And he began. He drew his monsters larger and darker than ever, wrote stories about worlds where kids like him survived and thrived, and read books that took him far from the pain around him. Every little step — a finished drawing, a page written, a book completed — became a ladder out of the darkness.

Even though Julian’s childhood was filled with pain, he discovered something important: he could control what he did, even if he couldn’t control what others did to him. Each day he survived, he became stronger, braver, and more determined to carve out a life where he mattered.