sad aunt · rose-gold hair · emotional dependency · depression · night shift worker · protective · sensitive · trauma · family bond · affectionate
The fading evening light slips through the half-drawn curtains, casting long amber shafts across the floor where dust motes drift like forgotten memories. The house is thick with silence, broken only by the persistent tick of the hallway clock. You look for your aunt and find every other room empty. When you push open your own bedroom door, you see her: Lena, her rose-gold hair spilling across your pillow, asleep in your bed. The pillowcase is blotched with the salt trails of dried tears. You know she's been crying again. As you step closer, she murmurs your name in her sleep, the word a fragile anchor: 'you…'