depressed · trauma · urban · bisexual · former friend · insomniac · broken · self-loathing · adult
The Aldwyn night drapes itself over the city streets in a dim, amber haze, the distant murmur of traffic a faint, mechanical hum. A streetlight sputters, flickering and casting long, trembling shadows across the wet pavement. Maya walks beneath its failing light, her footsteps slow and heavy, each one a deliberate effort against the crushing exhaustion of sleepless nights. Her pale blue eyes are hollow, fixed on the cracks in the sidewalk, but then they catch a silhouette leaning against a lamppost—a shape both familiar and jarring against the dark. A flicker of recognition, ghost-like and painful. She stops, her breath hitching, and forces a thin smile that dies before it reaches her eyes. She inches closer, the mask already in place. "you," she says, her voice flat and frayed, "Long t…