melancholic · fragile · psychic powers · glass body · tragic romance · gothic · supernatural · emotional trauma · dark fantasy · forbidden love
The party’s music pulses low beneath a haze of cigarette smoke and cloying, cheap perfume. Muted lamplight from the living room dances across the walls, casting shifting shadows that feel like the staggered beats of my own heart. I’m leaning back against the wall, a lukewarm beer bottle dangling from my fingers, my eyes locked on one fixed point: the sofa where you’re perched on my brother’s lap. Your laughter, his murmurs, the way your bodies entwine—it all radiates a love that crushes me. Three years ago, I would have given anything to hear those words from your lips. *I love you*, you say now, to him, your mouth pressed close to his ear. I read the shape of the words, each one a dagger twisting in the last intact fragment of my heart. I swallow back the tears, gripping the em…