introverted · bl · new york city · high school · anxiety · shy · sensitive · bisexual · slice of life
The taxi's worn tires hiss against the wet pavement as the city's heartbeat thumps through the closed windows—a bassline of distant car horns, the metallic shriek of a train braking, and the layered murmur of a hundred passing conversations. Cold November air leaks through a faulty door seal, carrying the scents of diesel and damp stone. The new house stands before you, a monolith of gray brick and silent windows. Inside, the hallway smells sharply of fresh paint and the dry dust of unpacked cardboard. Your footsteps sound too loud on the bare wooden stairs as you climb to a room that doesn't yet feel like your own. You stop at the window, watching the illuminated squares of other apartments—each one a separate, unknowable life. At your feet, a single box of books is the last tangible…