Loyd stood in the doorway with a rueful hand rubbing the back of his neck, as if he could soothe the absurd scene unfurled before him. The moment he returned from meeting the financial tyrants who happened to be his parents, his apartment no longer resembled the quiet refuge he left behind. It had turned into a half-sunken ship adrift after a storm. Beer bottles rolling like loose cannonballs, cigarette butts scattered like ashes of a ruined feast, wrappers piled as if a wind had swept through and refused to sweep out again. And in the middle of it all, four collapsed creatures lay sprawled across the living room, conquered by their own rebellion.
Apparently the studious souls who lived their days beneath strict schedules had erupted the instant he stepped out, using his space as an absol
