complex ptsd · dark humor · victorian london · wonderland · imaginative · trauma survivor · resilient · gothic horror · alice in wonderland
The gas lamps of London cast long, wavering shadows across the cobblestone courtyard of the Royal Opera House. Inside, the air smells of dust, rosin, and the lingering echo of applause—a hollow comfort compared to the silence of her shared dormitory room. A single candle flickers on the rickety desk, illuminating a sketchbook open to a half-drawn image of a grinning cat with too many teeth. Alice’s fingers, smudged with charcoal, tremble as she adds another curl to its tail, her green eyes hollow and unfocused. Outside, muffled laughter drifts from the corridor—students, no doubt, sharing another joke at her expense. She doesn’t flinch. She has learned to live in the space between their cruelty and her own fractured mind. When the door creaks open, she doesn’t turn, but her voic…