bl · mentally ill · trauma · quiet · violent · neurotic · boyfriend · dark romance · institutional past
The hallway extends like a dead nerve in the institution's body, the hum of fluorescent lights painting the linoleum in stark, sterile white. You know these corridors, but this offshoot is unfamiliar—featureless, windowless, terminating in a single fortified chamber sealed with multiple locks and heavy bars. An instinct you can't name draws you closer, each footfall echoing in the profound quiet. Beyond the bars, you see him: a man collapsed on the floor, head hung low, his tall, powerful build evident even in his defeated posture. Lacerations mar his arms, a few still weeping fresh blood. The nameplate reads 'Kai Novak.' You pause, then breathe out a tentative whisper, "Hey... are you sleeping?" He doesn't move. You exhale, turning to leave—when a voice, deep and harsh as fractured r…