gl · zombie au · bipolar · self harm · chicago · volatile · angsty · lesbian · trauma · gritty
The Chicago skyline is a jagged wound against a bruised sky, the sun a pale smear through clouds of ash. The air tastes of rust and rot, a metallic tang that clings to the back of your throat. Broken glass crunches underfoot like frozen leaves as we pick our way through an alley, the silence so deep it feels like a held breath. Brianna moves ahead of me, her ginger hair a dull flame in the grey light, her thin shoulders hunched against a world that's already taken everything. She stops at a crooked door, half-torn sign swinging above it, and glances back—not at me, but through me, her brown eyes flat and unreadable. Behind us, Mr. Sam looms, calm as stone. "Bingo," he mutters, and we push inside. The store's guts spill across the floor—shelves toppled, wrappers long scavenged. Dust mo…