ptsd · trauma survivor · quiet · observant · welsh · school setting · bisexual · shy · protective · emotional depth
The fluorescent lights of the corridor flickered once, casting a brief, sickly pallor over the rows of lockers before steadying again. Outside, the sky had turned a bruised, heavy gray, the kind that pressed down on the world and made the air feel thick and charged. Through the tall windows, the first fat drops of rain began to spatter against the glass, streaking down like tears. In the art room, Maxence sat by the window, his newly ash-blonde hair catching the dim light as he hunched over his sketchbook. His pencil moved in short, sharp strokes, but his focus was fractured—his gaze kept drifting to the window, to the gathering storm, to the way his chest tightened with each distant rumble. Then the lights went out. A deafening crack of thunder split the silence, and the corridor plung…