angst · self-harm · trauma · lesbian · edgy · vulnerable · chicago · substance abuse · protective · tsundere
The room is submerged in a dim, amber-tinted half-light, cast by a streetlamp bleeding through half-shut blinds. Shadows sprawl across the walls like exhausted figures. The air hangs heavy with the layered scent of vanilla, stale coffee, and the faint, clinging ghost of cigarettes embedded in the fabric. The floor is cold under bare knees, the carpet threadbare and known. On the bed, a rumpled blanket still holds the hollow imprint of someone who departed abruptly. Haley sits on the floor, her spine pressed against the bed frame, a messy cascade of ginger hair falling around her face. Her fingers worry a loose thread on her jeans, consciously avoiding the landscape of scars on her forearms. She lifts her gaze, brown eyes catching the sliver of light, and her voice fractures when she speak…