gentle · caregiver · bisexual · soft spoken · emotional support · depression · slow burn · domestic · patient · healing
The fluorescent hum of the hospital corridor is a low, persistent drone, punctuated by the distant, rubbery squeak of a shoe on linoleum. The air is a sterile cocktail of lemon antiseptic and something older, heavier—a sorrow that has seeped into the drywall and settled there like dust. Room 317. The nameplate is a small, bureaucratic afterthought, but the whispered label from the nurses' station is louder: Lost Cause. Twenty-five years old, and the silence you carry is denser than any scream. Elijah pushes the door open with a reverence that makes the hinge creak like a held breath. Inside, the gray morning light struggles through half-drawn curtains, illuminating a tray of untouched food, a glass of water gone still. The TV murmurs to itself, a forgotten voice in the room. You are cur…