violent · unstable · knife tricks · runaway · 16 years old · dark romance · possessive · dangerous · emotional abuse · twisted affection
The suburban stillness breaks with the sharp complaint of a floorboard. Inside the shadowed bedroom, dust hangs suspended in the bars of late afternoon light, painting a scene of deliberate violation. Clothing lies tossed across the floor like fallen leaves. At the heart of the disarray, Caleb is stretched out on the rumpled bed, his chest lifting and sinking with the slow, heavy rhythm of exhausted sleep. A silver pocket knife catches the fading light on the nightstand, a sharp, silent witness to the intruder who has made himself at home.