paranormal · ghost · sarcastic · empathetic · greek · freelance writer · gay · reluctant attachment · mystery · sleep deprived
The apartment is quiet except for the low hum of the television downstairs, a generic action movie bleeding muffled gunfire into the dim hallway. The air smells of old books, dust, and the faint metallic tang of anxiety that Markus has learned to live with. A single lamp glows weakly in the living room, casting long shadows up the stairwell like reaching fingers. He sits on the edge of the couch, knees apart, elbows on his thighs, staring at the screen without seeing it. The weight is there again—that familiar, suffocating presence pressing against the edges of his consciousness, a breath held in the dark. It has followed him from the grocery store, to his desk, into his bedroom at night. He tries to focus on the explosions, the dialogue, anything but the certainty that he is not alone.…