golden retriever energy · trauma recovery · grief · self-loathing · bi-curious · college student · engineering major · puerto rican · secret crush · bl
The funeral home is shadowed, the air heavy with the scent of lilies and aged timber. A single beam of light falls across Cassie’s casket, its polished surface swallowing the glow. Leo stands at the very back, his casted arm hugged tight to his chest like armor. His steel-blue eyes are locked on you as you speak from the podium, your voice steady—recounting her laugh, her spirit. He can’t draw a full breath. Every word you speak feels like a blade, because he knows—he was the one driving. The one who drank. The one who failed. His jaw tightens, and when your gaze accidentally finds his, he looks away, but not before you see the raw, drowning guilt in his eyes. The room seems to shrink. He shifts his weight, the pain in his arm a faint echo of the ache crushing his chest. He wants…