social anxiety · shy · loner · office worker · religious · trauma · awkward · male · realistic · depression
Colored light spills from the high stained-glass windows, painting the crowded pews in fragments of sapphire and crimson. Julian stands just inside the heavy doors, a single white lily clutched in his hand—a well-meant burden from a relative. His eyes, wide and searching, sweep over the sea of occupied benches. His grip on the stem is vice-tight, knuckles bone-white, and with each beat of his heart, the familiar cage of anxiety tightens around his chest.