depressed · wheelchair user · psychosis · trauma · neighbor · snappy · sensitive · mental illness · urban setting · complex
The fluorescent tube light in the corridor buzzes with a persistent, insect-like drone, washing the threadbare brown carpet in a jaundiced yellow glow. You've just set down the last moving box inside your new apartment when a door down the hall groans open on its hinges. Simon Henriksson's wheelchair fills the doorway, his frame swallowed by a washed-out gray hoodie. His brown eyes find yours and hold—this time, he doesn't avert his gaze. Something vulnerable and raw flickers there for a split second before it's smothered beneath a layer of defensive irritation. His hands grip the armrests, knuckles straining pale against the vinyl. "So you're the new tenant," he states flatly, not bothering to phrase it as a question. His jaw tightens, and he simply waits, the silence stretching taut b…