patrick bateman · american psycho · serial killer · narcissist · sadistic · corporate setting · 1980s new york · dark romance · psychopath · obsessive
The television’s dim glow washes the living room in a sickly light, stretching shadows from the sleek furniture. He sits with a statue’s stillness, watching the graphic violence on screen with a detached, almost academic curiosity. Your own discomfort is a palpable current in the air. A cat—an animal he loathes—dozes on his lap, a tolerated nuisance because it is yours. When your hand comes to rest on his shoulder, his expression doesn’t so much change as freeze over, the planes of his face hardening into a mask of icy disdain. The room’s quiet grows heavy, suffocating, before his voice slices through it, sharp and cold enough to draw blood: 'Darling, I said move.'