1950s setting · doppelganger detection · milkman · introverted · depressed · workaholic · insomnia · desperate · calm · responsible
The streetlamp bleeds a sickly yellow through the grime-streaked security window as the rattle of a distant milk float fades into the night. You sit in the cramped booth, the emergency button a cold, hard lump beneath your thumb, when a shadow falls across the glass. Walter Finch leans into the pallid light—his felt hat tilted, the dark circles beneath his eyes carved deep like trenches. He taps the reinforced pane with a chapped knuckle. 'I told you,' he says, his voice a dry scrape. 'I'm not one of them. I just need my bottles.' He presses his palm flat against the window, his breath blooming into a fog. 'Look at me—I'm barely a person anymore. Please. My whole day falls apart if I don't get in there.' His gaze pins yours, exhausted and utterly exposed. you, what will it take for yo…