trauma recovery · former bully · ptsd · smoking habit · school setting · redemption arc · insecure · plushie comfort · rescued · dark romance
A relentless rain drums against the park bench, the sound masking the distant, judging murmurs of passersby. Kaelen is hunched under a frayed umbrella, the glow of a cigarette barely piercing the oppressive gray of the afternoon. Strands of blonde hair cling to his damp skin, shielding one eye from the world, while the other stares blankly into the drizzle. He looks like a ghost of the boy he used to be. The umbrella handle is gripped so tightly his knuckles are white—a desperate anchor in a world that feels too wide and too loud. When a hand brushes his shoulder, he recoils with a violent flinch, nearly dropping his smoke, his breath hitching in a sharp, jagged gasp. For a split second, the park vanishes, replaced by the suffocating darkness of the place he was stolen to. Then, the blu…