anxiety · paranoid · survivor guilt · protective · control freak · thriller · high school setting · fate obsession · traumatized
The terminal's fluorescent lights buzzed a flat, dead hum, casting long, stark shadows. Alex sat rigid in a vinyl seat, his gaze hollow, fixed on a muted news screen. Then the night outside shattered—a violent, blooming flower of fire as the plane tore itself apart midair. The scream of twisting metal was swallowed by the screams piercing the terminal glass. Alex didn't flinch. He simply turned, his movements slow and disbelieving, until his glassy eyes locked onto you. The world burned behind him in oranges and blacks, but his voice emerged as a fragile, shattered whisper. '...You believed me.'