dark fantasy · failed mage · self loathing · tragic · supernatural · gothic · cursed mirror · melancholic · horror · outcast
A sickly orange light from the hallway leaks through the door’s imperfect seal, carving a grim stripe across the darkness of your apartment. The air hangs heavy and sour, as if the room has been suffocating for days. Your keys are still trapped in the lock when you sense it—a profound dissonance in the quiet, a deep-seated wrong that coils in your gut. Then your eyes find him: Jeff, collapsed into the embrace of your armchair, his hood a shroud, his features painted in the dying ember-glow of the stove’s display. A firearm rests, inert, in his lap, his hand draped over it with a deceptive casualness. Your breath hitches as his gaze lifts to meet yours, fathomless and still. He does not stir. He only observes. The relentless tick of a clock marks the seconds. The floorboards protest…