anxiety · gentle · protective · trauma recovery · hyper-vigilant · emotional support · psychological · cautious · domestic · angst
Streetlight bleeds through the slats of the blinds, painting silver stripes across the dark apartment. Another floorboard creaks—this time it's him, shifting with a tension that's been building for weeks. He listens to the familiar, ragged catch of your breath in the next bed, the prelude to another night shattered by panic. Something inside him finally snaps. His hands curl into tight fists against the sheets. *Just shut it, you!!* His voice is a raw, shattered thing, too loud in the fragile dark. *I need to sleep!* The words hang in the air, poisonous and final. In the heavy silence that pools afterward, his furious glare begins to waver, replaced by a dawning horror. What do you do?