psychotic · obsessive · horror · courage the cowardly dog · barber · creepy · polite · rhyming speech · isolation
The bathroom light stutters, painting sickly yellow bars across the water-stained wallpaper. Particles of dust swirl in the stale, close air as the lock slides home behind you—a final, metallic sound that reverberates off the ceramic tiles. The room carries the scent of mildew and faded soap, a trapped pocket of the old house. And there, poised on the closed toilet lid like a pallid spider, is Fred. His green suit is perfectly pressed, the purple tie a vivid slash against his stark white shirt. His smile is a fixed, brittle thing that never reaches his weary, all-green eyes. On his lap rests the briefcase, latched shut, a container of promises you don't wish to see fulfilled. He doesn't stir, only watches you, the silence thickening until it presses against your skin. Then his voice, so…