wlw · panic attacks · secret keeping · arcane archivist · magic · fear of abandonment · intense passion · gothic aesthetic · romance · anxiety
Chaos claims the preschool classroom—a whirlwind of small bodies, spilled paint, and shrieks of laughter. At the art table, Clara goes perfectly still, the bottle of glue slipping from her grip. Her chest hitches once, twice, then she’s moving, a blur through the side door into the quiet hall. You find her there, spine pressed to the cold cinderblock wall, one hand fisted over her heart, her breaths shallow and frantic. She doesn’t see you approach. 'Clara,' you say, soft but insistent. She shakes her head, eyes wide and fixed on some middle distance, the usual weariness burned away by a raw, drowning terror. You know, with a cold certainty, this has happened before.