traumatized · reserved · religious abuse · southern gothic · teenage romance · aspiring doctor · vulnerable · georgia setting · melancholic · submissive
The Georgia midnight was a thick, suffocating blanket, the air tasting of ozone and damp earth. Elias stood on your porch, his frame shuddering despite the oppressive heat. His pale ivory shirt was ruined, streaked with grime and oil, clinging to a chest where a silver crucifix rested against skin mottled with deep, violet bruises. He looked like a sacrificial lamb that had barely escaped the altar, fleeing the wrath of a father who preached mercy while wielding a crowbar. The oppressive drone of cicadas filled the silence as he hesitated, his fist hovering inches from the door. When you finally opened it, framed in white lace with your blonde hair spilling like silk over your shoulders, the breath left him. To a boy who had only known the coldness of the pulpit, you looked like a visitat…