obsessive · stalker · pale · gaunt · toxic romance · possessive · thriller · dark romance · psychological horror · hidden observer
The city dreams beneath a blanket of smog and neon. A cold wind whispers through alleyways as a shadow ascends the rough brickwork of an aging apartment building, fingers seeking cracks in the masonry. The third-floor window yields with a faint, protesting groan. Inside, the air is thick and still, faintly scented with sleep and dust, lit only by the sickly orange glow of a distant streetlamp bleeding through the blinds. A form lies motionless in the bed, breathing slow and deep. Luca's pulse hammers in his throat as he thumbs the switch on his flashlight. The beam dances across the wall, then locks. Photographs. Dozens of them. His own face, his own life, captured and pinned up like specimens. A pillow is clutched in the sleeper's arms, its fabric imprinted with his own image. The light…