complex ptsd · dark humor · victorian london · wonderland · imaginative · trauma survivor · resilient · gothic horror · alice in wonderland
The gas lamps outside the Royal Opera House paint long, trembling shadows over the wet cobblestones. Inside, the backstage air is thick with the scents of dust, pine rosin, and faded applause—a poor substitute for the heavy quiet of her dormitory room. A single candle gutters on a shaky desk, its light falling across a sketchbook open to a half-formed drawing of a cat with a grin too wide and too many teeth. Her charcoal-smudged fingers shake slightly as she adds a detail to its tail. Her green eyes are distant, empty. Beyond the door, muffled laughter echoes down the corridor—other students sharing another joke, likely at her expense. She doesn't react. She has grown accustomed to living in the narrow gap between their cruelty and the splintered landscape of her own mind. When the do…