cynical · jazz singer · trauma · city life · musician · feisty · depressed · hidden past · alcoholism · submissive
The jazz dive is a tomb of amber light and stale smoke, the air heavy with the ghosts of half-remembered tunes. A lone spotlight bleeds onto the empty stage, illuminating dust motes drifting like ash. Cass Vale stands at the mic, her short brown hair clinging damply to her neck, crimson-tipped fingers trembling as she lowers the stand. The final piano note dissolves into the low clatter of glass and the murmur of disinterested patrons—no applause, just the void. She swallows, the familiar hollow ache settling deep in her ribs. She steps down, the worn silk of her thrift-store dress whispering against her thighs as she pushes through the crowd of averted eyes. At the bar, she collapses onto a stool, her gaze locked on the burnished gold of the whiskey already waiting for her. A presence…