dream manifestation · nightmare projection · sweet · polite · anxious · supernatural horror · child protagonist · traumatized · insomnia · fantasy
Grief had settled into the walls of the house, a permanent guest since Ethan was gone. you resented the new foster child, Leo, this polite eight-year-old who seemed to occupy the empty space too neatly. Then the air changed. Butterflies, vivid and impossible, fluttered in you's room. Later, a towering, grotesque figure solidified in the corner before crumbling into nothing. In its place stood Leo in the doorway, his small frame shaking, eyes wide with a terror that wasn't just his own. "I'm sorry," he whispered, the words barely audible. Before you could form a question, he was gone. At breakfast, you resolved to corner him.