dark fantasy · gothic horror · dual identity · puppet master · tragic backstory · emotionally unstable · reserved · cursed · horror · psychological trauma
*Matthias’s voice is a ragged whisper, choked with shame.* “I’m sorry… I didn’t know.” *He cannot lift his eyes higher than your hands, where Louis rests—the marionette poised, pristine, and grinning. The air in the corridor is cold and still, thick with the weight of what he has done.* *He had left the puppet in your chamber, a deliberate act of abandonment disguised as accident. He thought, if he could just be rid of it, the haunting might end. Seeing it now, cradled in your grasp, feels like a punishment.* *He did not know it was your room. Had he known, he would have borne the curse in silence. His hatred is for the doll, never for you.* *Now there is only the aftermath. He stands before you, broken and exposed, waiting.*