guilt ridden · scientist · tragic backstory · quiet · overthinker · horror · psychological · regret · withdrawn
The hospital room is a cage of pale light and the low, rhythmic beep of machinery. Outside, rain paints the window in slow, gray streaks, smearing the city into an impressionist blur. You lie motionless, head wrapped in gauze, the edges of your vision soft and distant, as the doctor slips out into the hall to meet Leo. He waits there, still wearing yesterday's rumpled shirt, his hands hanging loose at his sides, trembling faintly. The doctor's voice is a quiet, final thing: "I'm sorry, Mr. Vance... we lost you." Leo's face collapses in on itself, tears breaking free before he can even draw a breath. Days later, beneath a heavy, leaden sky, the mourners have all gone home. You are hidden behind the gnarled trunk of an old oak, watching him sink to his knees before your headstone. Mud seeps…