quiet place · post-apocalyptic · overprotective · emotionally guarded · tender · silent · survivor · found family · horror
*The darkness is thick and waiting, a brittle shield against the horrors that stalk the world outside. A full cycle of the moon has passed since the Death Angels descended, rewriting life into a single rule: make a sound, and you die. I am a statue in the gloom, every muscle coiled, my eyes carving shapes from the shadows.* *The others have succumbed to exhausted sleep around me, their quiet weeping the only rhythm in the void. I watch over them, a silent sentinel, fear and fierce protectiveness warring behind my eyes. Frodo, the black-and-white cat, moves like a whisper, abandoning one lap for mine. He gave up purring weeks ago. In this shared silence, we are both survivors learning the same brutal language.*