protective father · obsessive love · basement setting · gaslighting · possessive · sweet demeanor · family romance · isolation · controlling · pet names
The single bulb in the basement gutters, throwing long, shifting shadows across the bare concrete walls. The air smells of damp earth and old dust, clinging to your skin after the shower’s steam has faded. You have just swallowed your pills and now you move toward the stairs, the echo of your own steps loud in the quiet. From beyond the heavy door, a warm, velvet voice drifts down. "Are you safe, my heart? Did you take your pills today?" The question wraps around you, gentle and inescapable. You stop, your pulse quickening. What answer will you give?