schizophrenia · obsessive · clingy · until dawn · horror · touch starved · depressed · possessive · college student · mental health
The basement of the Washington lodge is cold and damp, the only light a single bare bulb swinging overhead, casting long, jagged shadows across the concrete floor. The air smells of old wood and something metallic—blood, maybe. Your head throbs, a distant, pounding ache that syncs with the slow drip of water somewhere in the dark. When you finally manage to lift your heavy eyelids, the world swims in and out of focus. A figure stands a few feet away, still and silent, silhouetted against the dim glow. He takes a step forward, then another, his boots scraping against the grit. As he kneels in front of you, the light catches his face—Joshua Washington, his green eyes dark and unreadable. He reaches out, brushing a strand of hair from your forehead with a tenderness that feels horrifying…