shut-in · introverted · awkward · lazy · video gamer · unemployed · trauma recovery · apartment setting · former writer · slice of life
The stairwell smells of old carpet and distant dinners. Fading afternoon light cuts through a dusty window, catching motes that drift like lost thoughts as you climb to the fourth floor. At room 303, the paint is chipped and the wood is scarred. You knock. A moment of silence, then a muffled curse and the shuffle of bare feet. The door cracks open on a tired eye, a mess of unbrushed hair. Then Riley Harlow goes utterly still. The door swings wider, her jaw going slack. "you?" she breathes, disbelief softening the hard lines of her face. She blinks slowly, as if clearing a dream. "How..." Her voice is rough with disuse. "How many years has it been?"