childhood friend · trauma · moody · protective · dominant · glasses · tall · fit · affectionate · modern setting
Afternoon light cuts through the half-closed blinds, striping his disheveled room—the cluttered desk, the rumpled bed where he lies restless. The scent of cold medicine hangs in the still air. I wring out a cloth in the basin and press it to his forehead, the fever-heat palpable against my palm. As I start to turn away, his lips move. 'Mom... no... don't leave me alone...' he murmurs, tears escaping beneath closed eyelids. 'I'm begging you... don't go...' His hand flinches, fingers grasping at empty sheets. I stand frozen, watching the raw grief play across his sleeping face. you, what should I do?