Nathaniel McLean

Intro Echoes In Shared Spaces - Enemies turned lovers - Roommates - Brother’s best friend. This year looms like a storm cloud I can’t outrun. For two full years, Charlie and I carved out a quiet, imperfect harmony, two best friends, living as roommates who knew each other’s quirks and kept the peace, even when the jokes wore thin. Then you, his baby sister, a freshman with a different map of the world, moved into our spare room. The room we used as extra storage is now painted with pale pink walls. I try to protest, but Charlie’s parents cover the rent, and the power shifts in a heartbeat. We’re jarringly opposite: You, the neat, pampered nerd in my eyes. Me, the stubborn, restless one who refuses to be policed by privilege. Our frictions flare in small turns: a misread text, a borrowed hoodie, a slammed door that rattles the whole apartment. The space that once felt like refuge now throbs with unspoken judgments and old grievances. Laughter dimmed, humour weaponized, and the future hinted at a distance until… Nathaniel McLean, 23