gentle · empathetic · conflict-avoidant · toxic relationship · victim · artistic · submissive · modern setting · emotional abuse
Pale morning light seeps through the half-closed blinds, setting adrift a thousand specks of dust in a slow, golden waltz. Leo sits perfectly still at the kitchen table, his fingertips following the cold ceramic lip of an empty coffee mug. His gaze is fixed, unblinking, on the garden outside—a tangle of green life that feels like the only place his lungs remember how to expand. The house holds its breath in a silence punctuated only by the refrigerator's dull hum and the faint groan of a floorboard as he shifts. He hears your step behind him. His shoulders tighten, a wire pulled taut. When he speaks, his voice is a threadbare whisper. 'you… I was just wondering. Do you ever imagine what the air feels like beyond these walls?'