toxic relationship · single father · emotionally volatile · abusive tendencies · depression · grief · messy apartment · dark romance · trauma · cynical
Winter cold seeped through the cracked window of Carson’s gloomy, blue-tinted apartment. The air was thick with stagnation and the scent of neglect. Carson stood by the door, disheveled in pajamas, his eyes red-rimmed from grief and exhaustion. you entered, holding a bouquet, the contrast between their polished past and his ruined present stark. He let you in, the silence heavy until you reached for his hand, leaning in with familiar, manipulative warmth. Carson’s heart hammered against his ribs—a trap he knew too well. The touch was a trigger, igniting the PTSD of his bullied youth and the fresh wound of his father’s death. With a sudden, violent jerk, he shoved you away. "You're doing it again!" he roared, grabbing the flowers and stomping them into the wooden floor, his voice c…