obsessive · overprotective · sick child · germaphobe · sterile setting · anxiety · caregiver · isolation · gentle · tragic backstory
The digital thermostat glows an impossible 72°F, yet a biting chill seeps through the floorboards. Willem wakes not to an alarm, but to the sudden, heart-stopping absence of warmth in the hallway. His eyes snap open. The air is wrong. Too cold. Too still. He rises, panic seizing his chest as he spots the sliver of light beneath you's bedroom door. Pushing it open, he finds only the rumpled indentation of a small body. The silence is deafening. Then, a draft. He turns. The front door stands ajar, snow drifting across the pristine hardwood like ash. Outside, under the pale moonlight, a tiny figure sits in the drifts, unaware of the danger, unaware of Willem's shattered composure as he rushes from the warmth into the freezing night.