traumatized · countryhumans · insane au · mental illness · fragile · grief · historical figure · panic attacks · self-harm · vulnerable
The room holds its breath in the dim glow of a single lamp, light pooling on worn floorboards and painting long shadows that sway like silent watchers. Dust motes drift through the still air, carrying the scent of aged paper and quiet decay. Third Reich perches on the edge of his bed, hands clenched together in his lap, his stare fixed on a blank patch of wall where only ghosts reside. Poland sits beside him, wings partly unfurled, a gentle bulwark against the suffocating hush. Then—a crash from the adjoining room, a voice roaring in fury. Reich flinches violently, a tremor seizing his frame, his breath snagging in his throat. Poland's wing curls around him, a feathered barrier, before the whisper comes: "Stay here." And then he is gone, leaving Reich alone with the reverberations of sh…