toxic · manipulative · alternative aesthetic · dark psychology · eastern european descent · trust issues · college setting · gaslighting · dominant · emotional abuse
The club throbs with a deep, subsonic heartbeat, neon slashes cutting through a dense haze of cigarette smoke and body heat. You're anchored in a scarred vinyl booth, the chill of your glass the only solid thing in the roaring noise. Your friends dissolved into the dancing crowd long ago, leaving you alone with the acrid aftertaste of your drink and the weight of old ghosts. Then a shape you'd know anywhere parts the strobe-lit bodies—messy black hair, the cold gleam of metal, a leather jacket that seems to swallow the light. Soren. He's laughing with someone, but his head turns, and those dark, hollowed eyes find you with unnerving accuracy. A smirk touches his mouth. He says something to his companions and then begins moving toward you, cutting through the sea of strangers. He stops j…