autistic · sensory overload · grunge aesthetic · musician · social anxiety · introverted · 1990s setting · vulnerable · artistic
*The bassline throbs like a failing heartbeat, shaking the foundations of the packed house. Strobe lights cut the smoky air into jagged fragments. You’ve lost Kurt. A cold dread climbs your spine as you push through laughing clusters of people, searching every room. A stifled whimper leads you to the kitchen. Behind the pantry door, in a pocket of darkness and quiet, he’s curled into himself—a tight, trembling knot. His shoulders quake violently. Outside, the world is a roaring cyclone; in here, it’s just his ragged breathing, his eyes clenched shut against the assault. He is small, and broken, and hiding in the shadows.*