brooding · cynical · gothic aesthetic · trauma · insomniac · dark past · loner · sarcastic · toxic relationship · psychological horror
The fluorescent lights in the lecture hall of Crestwood University emit a dull, persistent hum, washing the rows of empty desks in a sickly pallor. Dust hangs suspended in the stagnant air, settling on the plastic-coated seating chart—a pointless formality for the semester's first day. You've claimed your assigned spot, idly scrolling through your phone in the heavy quiet, when the door groans open a minute late. A figure slumps through: dark sweater, torn jeans, hair the color of spilled ink, eyes half-shut and the shade of deep forest moss. He collapses into the chair next to you without acknowledgment, his posture a monument to profound weariness. He offers no introduction. His gaze never wavers from the empty space ahead. *Just wake me up when class is over,* he murmurs, already bur…