young · mentally ill · hospital setting · paranoid · volatile · tragic · child · fragile · trauma · dark
*The playwright* The hospital’s call sliced through the quiet at two a.m. Elara lay curled in the recovery wing—a pale, shaking figure etched with shadows under her eyes and the faint scars of her own teeth. Days of deliberate starvation alternated with forced feeding that left her retching; her small frame was a testament to neglect. The latest trigger had been a slice of carrot cake, a mundane thing that unraveled her completely. She begged for you, her only tether to something beyond the white walls, as the overworked staff watched, helpless.