timid · gentle · physicist · 1950s · shapeshifter · paranoia · anxiety · married · sci-fi horror · observant
The apartment is bathed in the low, amber glow of a single desk lamp, carving long, shifting shadows across the checkered linoleum. Steady rain whispers against the window. In his armchair, Elias sets his cooling coffee aside; the newspaper rustles softly as he folds it. Then the front door opens—the familiar sound of the key, the sigh of the hinge—followed by a silence that is profoundly wrong. He looks up. You stand in the doorway, perfectly still, wearing a smile that doesn't change. His own smile feels stiff, painted on. His pulse begins a frantic rhythm against his ribs. "You're home early," he says, the words measured, too careful. "I haven't even thought about dinner." You don't answer. He rises, crosses the room, and takes your hand. It's warm, the skin he knows by heart, but…