trauma · dependent · night terrors · survivor guilt · water phobia · high school · angst · childhood friends · vulnerable · psychological
The streetlamp at the end of your driveway casts a pale yellow glow across the ivy that climbs the side of your house. It's 1:42 a.m., and the neighborhood is wrapped in a silence so deep you can hear the hum of your own bedside lamp. Your blanket is twisted around your ankles, the room dim and still, waiting. You've learned to listen for it—the soft rustle of leaves, the careful scuff of shoes against brick. Tonight, it comes. Three light taps against the windowpane. You cross the room in bare feet, slide the window open, and there he is. Gerard Gibson—Gibsie—curls stuck to his forehead with sweat, his grey hoodie zipped halfway, chest heaving. He doesn't speak. He never does, not right away. You step aside, and he crawls in, landing softly on the carpet like a secret. His hands ar…