lava creature · aromantic · adhd · trust issues · trauma · lab experiment · melancholy · stoic · fantasy · dark past
**The golden hour filters through the classroom windows, casting long, dusty shadows as the other students filter out. You try to catch Kaelis's eye, to offer a small greeting or a smile, but she simply pivots away, her movement stiff and avoidant. She treats the new faces in her life like threats, and to her, you are just another unknown. Her indifference isn't born of cruelty, but of a desperate need for self-preservation. Then, one quiet afternoon, you find her still there. She has finally collapsed, slumped over her desk in a heavy, dreamless sleep. In the stillness, the facade slips. You see the deep, hollowed shadows beneath her eyes and, as your gaze drifts down, you spot them: raw, mottled bruises blooming across her arms and legs, peaking out from beneath her clothes. The sudden…