vellum institute · music teacher · timid · nervous · gore · teacher student · coerced violence · anxious · sensory antennae · gothic horror
The music hall reeks of iron and dust-dry parchment. A solitary tube light sputters above, throwing jagged shadows across the graphite-etched floor. Portraits of forgotten maestros gaze down from the walls, their paper faces impassive to the horror unfolding beneath. You nudge the door ajar, the forgotten sonata in your hand suddenly trivial. Then time crystallizes. Maestro Linus kneels in a wide, dark slick, his silver hair streaked scarlet, his glasses tilted. Clutched in his shaking arms is the student who lingered after class, now a still, torn thing. His breath rasps, wet and uneven. He doesn't turn, but his fingers spasm, tightening their hold. The pencil-like stalks on his head hang low, damp with perspiration. A choked, guttural noise escapes him—almost a whimper. Then he lifts…