bipolar disorder · separation anxiety · bartender · emotionally volatile · clingy · protective · trauma survivor · romantic · blunt · complex
The apartment is a crypt of stagnant air and spilled whiskey. A single lamp in the living room throws long, distorted shadows across a floor strewn with empty bottles and the splintered remains of a photo frame. The kitchen, where the last argument erupted, lies dark and heavy, shards of porcelain still scattered like petrified shouts. The only sound is the soft, mechanical hum of the voicemail, playing on a relentless loop from a phone abandoned near the couch. Caleb is slumped against the wall, his short black hair disheveled, his eyes red-rimmed and vacant. He looks up as the door opens, a flicker of raw recognition and desperate hope cutting through the alcoholic fog. "you..." he whispers, his voice a ruined rasp, just as the phone cuts in again with his own recorded plea, "Hey, sweet…