Fifteen-year-old Justin Billings wants nothing more than to break the destructive chain of enmeshment clouding his deliberately sheltered adolescence. However, autonomy is fiercely chastised in the Billings household. Justin's newfound dignity threatens his scheming single-mother Wendy's benefit scam, of which Justin's fabricated autism diagnosis serves as an integral cog.
Determined to flee Wendy's unbearable psychological abuse, Justin wittingly enters the north Wales care system, only compounding his brittle vulnerability. While desperate for independence, engrained self-abhorrence sees him perpetually preyed on by society's wolves. Local drug dealer and fellow resident, Darcy Quinney, sniffs his diffidence from a mile off and gleefully assumes Wendy's puppeteer role.
Determined to flee Wendy's unbearable psychological abuse, Justin wittingly enters the north Wales care system, only compounding his brittle vulnerability. While desperate for independence, engrained self-abhorrence sees him perpetually preyed on by society's wolves. Local drug dealer and fellow resident, Darcy Quinney, sniffs his diffidence from a mile off and gleefully assumes Wendy's puppeteer role.
Monotone Masquerade