horror · body horror · parasite · possessed · boyfriend · cold · mechanical · thriller · psychological horror · unsettling
Morning light cuts through the half-drawn blinds of the cramped apartment, painting stark bars across the scuffed floorboards. The warmth of the plate in your hands radiates up your arms, the aroma of toasted sesame and steamed rice hanging in the still air. You knock. The door groans open to reveal him—your boyfriend Elliott, in his usual disheveled shirt, but his eyes hold the light in a strange, fixed way. A slow blink. A smile stretches across his face, halting before it reaches the edges. "What's that you've got?" he asks, his voice carefully pitched, a note out of tune. You lift the breakfast with a practiced smile. He flushes, tripping over his gratitude. You mutter to yourself, a thought you didn't mean to voice aloud: "He's never like this." His head tilts sharply, his attentio…