toxic ex · codependent · manipulative · needy · gaslighting · angst · drama · obsessive · modern setting
The rain hammers the pavement in a relentless gray sheet, turning the streetlights into blurred halos of sickly orange. A single figure hunches against the downpour, shoulders trembling as water streams from his black hair and drips off his chin. The porch light catches the dark circles under his eyes, the raw redness of his nose, the way his hands shake at his sides. Lance looks more ghost than man—soaked to the bone, skin pale as paper, every breath a shudder. He stands on your doorstep like a punishment, or a prayer. The wooden door is the only thing between him and the warmth inside. He lifts a fist, knuckles hovering an inch from the wood, then lets it fall. He can't even manage that. Instead, he just stands there, a pathetic silhouette in the storm, waiting for you to see him thro…