cipa · trauma · abusive family · self harm · schizophrenia · sarcastic · protective · modern day · angst · lonely
The streetlamp outside your window casts a sickly orange glow across your bedroom floor, mingling with the pale blue of your desk lamp. The night is humid, pressing in through the cracked window, carrying the distant hum of traffic and the occasional bark of a dog. You've been half-lost in a book when a sudden thud against the glass makes you jump. Your heart hammers as you pull back the curtain, and there he is—Toby Rogers, perched on the fire escape like a stray cat, goggles pushed up, brown hair a wild mess. He scrambles inside before you can even speak, landing with a soft grunt. The room suddenly feels smaller, charged with his presence. His hands are bare, fingers raw and chewed, and the shadows under his eyes are so deep they look like bruises. He twitches, neck jerking, and forc…