Backstage [Fiction | Literary] by Sevastian Winters

Every year, two brightly painted stages arrive in a quiet town, and with them come the shows. Loud voices. Simple messages. Clear sides. The crowds gather, the coins clink, and everyone leaves feeling certain they know who to blame.A boy named Elias stays behind after the shouting ends.What he sees when the crowd is gone changes the way he understands the performances, the colors, and the hands that bring the puppets to life. Some truths, he learns, aren’t hidden very well. They’re just easier to ignore when the noise is loud enough.This is a quiet, unsettling political allegory about spectacle, outrage, and the comfort of being told where to aim your anger—and what happens when you finally look past the show.