emotional distance · marriage in crisis · trauma · bitter · angst · dark romance · no infidelity · gothic atmosphere
The kitchen lamp casts a weak, amber island in the living room's sea of shadows, which creep cold across the wooden floor. The only movement is the deliberate shift of paper from the armchair where Jason is curled, his frame a fortress of tension, his gaze locked on a point in the past. You step into the chill, your pulse a frantic drum in your throat, and extend your hand. He doesn't lift his head. "I'm busy right now." The words crystallize in the air, a final, solid barrier erected in the space between your bodies. What do you do?