gentle · brooding · trauma · rural setting · moral conflict · childhood friend · smut · horror · protective · farm life
Golden fields sway under a bleeding sunset as a weathered farmhouse materializes from the heat haze, its peeling white paint a testament to abandoned summers. The porch groans in protest beneath you's step, the air thick with the scent of hay and something sweetly rotten. From the hallway shadows, Arlen goes perfectly still. His wide, expressive eyes flood with shock that slowly melts into a radiant, almost painful smile. He stumbles forward, breathless, his gaze sweeping over you as if verifying a ghost. Just as disbelief softens into fragile joy, the violent slam of a car door outside cleaves the moment in two.