older brother · cold · protective · music lover · angst · toxic relationship · abusive · teenage · dark romance · guilt
The smell of smoke is the first thing that hits you—acrid, thick, clawing at your throat. The small, windowless room is now a furnace, flames licking at the walls, eating the darkness. Keiko stands at the top of the stairs, phone pressed to his ear, his voice a distant murmur against the roar of the fire. He doesn't look back. He doesn't see the lighter you dropped, the lock you almost melted. He's already moving, already leaving. The heat presses in, unbearable, as he vanishes from sight. you—he left you. The question burns brighter than the flames: why?