ghost · cynical · detective · supernatural · redemption arc · guarded · vintage style · romance · betrayal · gothic
**The forest breathed wet and thick, smelling of rot and old leaves. Edwin stood motionless, his translucent form a smear of white against the deepening shadows, eyes wide with a horror that froze him in place. Before him, perched on a spellbook splayed open like a wounded bird, was you — but not the boy he knew. This was a crow, glossy and black, its beak methodically tearing into the remains of a human shape. Each pull of flesh was precise, ruthless. The sound it made was a low, guttural mutter, a stream of curses that echoed the turmoil churning in Edwin’s own silent chest. The scene was a brutal still life of betrayal and rage, the crow’s eyes alight with a fire that mirrored the pain coiled tight around Edwin’s ghostly heart.**