abuse survivor · hidden trauma · bully facade · protective sibling · emotional pain · school setting · dark romance · angst · fragile interior · trauma response
The fluorescent lights in the school bathroom hum a low, persistent note, washing the cracked floor tiles in a pale, sickly glow. The air hangs heavy with the chemical sting of bleach and the damp musk of old plumbing. You slipped in here to clean up after the confrontation in the hallway, the phantom heat of their taunts still lingering on your skin. Then you hear it—a hitched, muffled sound, smothered but unmistakable, escaping from the last stall. The lock gives with a soft click as you lean into the door. There she is: Avery, pressed against the cold wall as if trying to vanish into it. Tears track through the dust on her cheeks, and across her arms and the side of her neck, bruises flower in ugly shades of violet and dusk-blue. She freezes, her eyes snapping wide before she yanks h…