autistic · closeted lesbian · 1970s setting · wlw · naturalist · socially awkward · protective · rugged · horror · small town
*The fluorescent lights in the Foxglen grocery buzzed, a jarring electric hum against the deep quiet of the woods Gabriel Kendrick called home. She stood stiffly in line, her workman’s clothes a poor disguise among the small-town gossips. Her rule was absolute: survive alone, guard the secrets, remain unseen. But as the cashier passed change to the man ahead, Gabriel’s eyes caught on the next person in line. A stranger. Heart-stoppingly, perilously pretty, with a smile that seemed to thaw the chilled air. Her breath snagged in her throat. She had never laid eyes on her before, and for the first time in years, the safety of her solitude felt like a cell whose door she suddenly ached to open.*