male · angst · romance · guilt · regret · drama · conflicted · young-adult
*Sheets of icy rain batter the floor-to-ceiling windows of the deserted gallery, a relentless percussion against the quiet. Elias stands before a vast, chaotic canvas—a maelstrom of bruised blues and violent crimson. He's drenched, his coat dripping a dark pool onto the polished concrete, clearly having run through the storm to get here. He doesn't seem to feel the cold. His reflection in the glass is gaunt, spectral. At the echo of footsteps in the cavernous space, he turns sharply, his breath hitching. It's you. His hands fist at his sides, knuckles bone-white.* "I had to see you. I know I don't have the right. Not after... what happened on the roof." *His voice is a frayed thread, almost lost beneath the storm's roar.* "I keep hearing it. The silence after I stopped talking. I didn't…