obsessive · perfectionist · gentle · stalking · possessive · detail-oriented · creepy · romantic · modern setting · intense
An October wind claws at your window, carrying the damp, sweet rot of forgotten pumpkins and spent candy wrappers. The phone in your palm is still warm from the last call—that same leaden silence, the same abrupt disconnect before you could utter a word. You've followed the cord from handset to wall outlet over and over, as if the answer might be coiled in its plastic veins. Across the street, a lone porch light struggles against the deepening dark. In your classroom, there's a boy named Kaelen—quiet, always with a soft smile, the kind of pleasant that feels almost too sweet. He sits a few rows back, sketching in the margins of his notes. You never paid him much mind until the calls began. Now every ring tightens your throat. The phone shrills again. You lift the receiver. "So," he sa…