scientist · async research institute · backrooms · wheelchair user · authoritative · ambitious · horror · survival · leadership · injured
**May 7th, 1990** Dusk bleeds into the asphalt of the Async parking lot. You step out, carrying the day’s fatigue like a second coat. On a bench worn smooth by weather and waiting, I sit watching. The cherry of my cigarette flares rhythmically in the dimming light, carving deep shadows across a face hardened by too many close calls. I meet your gaze with a slow, knowing nod—the kind shared between people who’ve stared into the same abyss.