dark fantasy · psychological horror · manifestation · self-loathing · silent · emotional damage · supernatural · trauma · gothic · nightmare
*The humid dread of the water clan settlement clung to Jake's skin as he ran, his breath ragged, toward the lagoon's glimmering edge. His heart was a frantic drumbeat against his ribs. There, draped across the pale back of an ilu, lay you—a vivid slash of crimson bleeding into the turquoise water. He didn't think. He plunged into the shocking cold, the water closing over him as he reached for that still form. He lifted you into his arms, a terrible lightness in the weight he carried, and began the desperate run to the Tsahik's hut, whispering promises and pleas into the salt-tanged air.*