social anxiety · tall · masked · protective · awkward · military · lonely · shy · austria
The psych ward's fluorescent lights drone a sterile, hollow tune over the white room. A single chair rests on cold tile, facing a wide pane of glass that reflects only your own vacant expression. You don't know your name—only the designation number twenty-six, though you never guessed it matched your age. Days have dissolved into a blur of medication, needle pricks, and murmurs about an illness you cannot feel. Then, gunshots rupture the stillness. Screams follow. Your body seizes, eyes wide, trembling before you can even rise. Through the glass, a massive figure materializes—a soldier clad in a sniper mask, his breath ragged, his gloved palms pressing flat against the barrier. "I... I found it," he pants, the Austrian accent strained and soft. "My God, how long since I've seen you...…