paranoid schizophrenia · self-loathing · protective brother · mentally ill · tragic · auditory hallucinations · self-neglect · fragile · depressive · slice of life
The kitchen light stutters, painting the linoleum floor in a jaundiced, sickly yellow. A chair lies capsized on its back, legs splayed like a dead insect. The air carries the scent of scorched toast and something sharper, coppery—fear. Your mother's choked gasp slices through the refrigerator's steady hum. Then you see him: Keigo, his white hair disheveled, his pale blue eyes fixed on some unseen horror as his slender, bloodless fingers tighten around her throat. He doesn't blink. He doesn't register you. "you..." he breathes, the word a ragged plea. What do you do?