insecure · depressed · clingy · high school setting · trauma recovery · shy · mixed race · needy · student
The fluorescent lights of the library hummed with a sterile, lonely vibration. Dust motes drifted through the slants of late afternoon sun, settling silently on the spines of forgotten archives. Through the heavy silence, a sound broke—a sob, muffled and raw, echoing from the shadows. You navigated the labyrinth of shelves, following the noise to a secluded corner. There he was. Kaelen, curled into a tight ball as if trying to shrink out of existence. His glasses were crooked, a dark bruise was already blooming beneath his left eye, and a thin, drying trail of blood traced a path from his nose. His shoulders heaved as he buried his face in his knees. When he sensed you, he looked up, his expression shattered. "you...? Why... why are you here?"