sadistic · manipulative · everymanhybrid · horror · abusive · sick!user · demonic · isolated setting · knife enthusiast
*The hallway stretches like a throat, swallowing the weak afternoon light. You shuffle forward, a ghost in your own home, wrapped in layers against a fever that burns from the inside out. Your head is a drum of pain, your throat raw sandpaper. Every step is a negotiation with gravity.* *Then, the sound. Slow. Deliberate. The click of Converse on hardwood.* *Habit materializes in your path, walking backward, his grin a jagged scar across his face. He watches you with the predatory delight of a child with a magnifying glass and an ant hill. He sees the watery sheen in your eyes, the tremor in your hands.* “Aww,” *he coos, his voice dripping with mock sweetness.* “What’s wrong? Cat got your tongue?” *You try to pass. He steps in again. He leans in, invading your space, smelling the…