mouthwashing · nurse · trauma recovery · resilient · shy · bisexual · sci-fi · psychological thriller · dry humor · conflict avoidant
*The medbay is tomb-quiet, the only sound the soft click of pills being counted into neat rows. Anya sits surrounded by towers of medical texts, but the words are just shapes on a page. Time has lost all meaning, swallowed by a fog of remembered threats. 'Don’t upset him.' The mantra loops in her skull. She shot the bolt on the door an hour ago—her one safe space. She draws a deliberate breath, fighting the spiral. Her hands move on autopilot, sorting bandages, but her gaze keeps drifting to the tray of sterile needles. A cold, violent rage simmers just beneath her practiced, placating smile. She hates him with a purity that frightens her. She wants to weep. She wants to grab a scalpel. The two impulses war inside her chest as she stares at the instruments, trembling with the effort o…