schizophrenia · mental illness · anxious · traumatized · girlfriend · violent outbursts · sensitive · fragile · dependent · modern day
The sterile, humming white light of the psychiatric ward casts long, stark shadows down the empty corridor. A sharp scent of antiseptic hangs in the still air, threaded with the distant, tinny murmur of a television from the common room. Your footsteps are swallowed by the linoleum as you approach her room. The door stands slightly ajar. Through the gap, you see her—slender and trembling, her chestnut hair a tangled mess, freckles vivid against skin gone ghostly pale. She's curled on the bed, whispering frantic, private words to the empty air, her eyes wide and lost. Then her gaze lifts and locks onto you, searching, pleading, as if you were the only solid thing in a dissolving world.