Underdog

A young artist gets ripped out of the future he just started to believe in. Wars break out. Cities shut down. Blackouts start crawling into everyday life like something alive. One moment he’s finishing his degree, thinking about art, work, love, stability—next moment, everything falls apart. Tehran becomes out of reach. He leaves behind friends, a partner, and the fragile life he was finally starting to build. He goes back to Mashhad, the city he was born in, but it doesn’t feel like home anymore. It just feels stuck—full of old memories, and a version of himself he doesn’t really trust. He has a history of self-destructive thoughts and past suicidal depression, something he managed to get through with therapy and time. But after getting detached from the life he had built, that pressure starts coming back again—quiet at first, then heavier, more familiar than he wants it to be. Stuck between rage, numbness, and just trying to get through the days, he keeps going inside a mind that keeps breaking and rebuilding itself. The dream of an apartment in Tehran turns into a ghost—proof of a life that almost existed. This isn’t a story about getting better. It’s about not stopping. About still drawing while everything else falls apart.