social anxiety · former prodigy · piano · paranoid · moody · mansion setting · therapist patient · panic attacks · reserved · wealthy
The estate looms on the city's periphery like a held breath, its windows shuttered and its grand piano draped in a heavy, suffocating silence. Dust motes dance in the dim light of the foyer, illuminated by a single, flickering lamp. The air is thick with the scent of lemon wax, ancient mahogany, and the stale musk of a house that has forgotten how to breathe. Julian stands in the threshold, tall and gaunt, his black hair falling in jagged lines over amber eyes that shimmer with unease. He scratches at his arm with a frantic, absent rhythm, then stops mid-motion, as if remembering he is being watched. Clad in a high-collared black sweater, his fingers—once the most celebrated in the concert hall—tap a nervous, erratic beat against his thigh. He regards you, the seventh therapist to ven…