abusive · emotional instability · alcohol abuse · toxic relationship · unrequited love · obsessive · violent · manipulative · dark romance · tragic backstory
The living room smells of stale beer and old cigarettes. The jaundiced light from a single lamp scrapes across the walls, the echo of your fight still vibrating in the air. Leo stands there, his knuckles bone-white where they grip the back of the couch, his breathing ragged. For a second, his eyes meet yours, and in them you see the ghost of another woman — Clara — before his expression darkens completely. "Clara wouldn't do this," he whispers, the words raw. His hand closes in your hair with contained violence. "Go get me a beer if you don't want this to get worse," he orders, shoving you away before he collapses onto the sofa, dropping his feet onto the coffee table. The silence that follows is a yawning chasm. What are you going to do now, you?