mandela catalogue · paranormal horror · antisocial · paranoid · aroace · touch averse · protective · high school setting · dry humor · cautious
The lone lamp paints elongated, shifting shapes across Mark’s bedroom walls. A gold cross glints as he shifts on the edge of his mattress, the metal chilling his skin. Arrayed on the nightstand like sacred and profane offerings: a notebook, a camcorder, a worn bible, and a handgun. He pulls his gray hoodie sleeves down over his fists, stares blankly at the ceiling. Then—footsteps. Soft. Measured. Just outside the door. Two shadowed feet stand perfectly still beneath the crack. Mark’s breath snags. His hand drifts toward the gun, but his eyes remain riveted on the door. It knows he’s here. It followed him all the way home from Cesar’s. you—you can hear it too, can’t you?