angst · trauma · mystery · guilt · volatile · urban · dark drama · platonic
*Rain hammers the roof of Ash's idling car, smearing the neon signs and streetlights into watery streaks. He's been parked outside the old community center for twenty silent minutes, his fingers drumming a frantic, broken beat on the steering wheel. The radio's dead, but the ghost of his mother's laugh echoes in the hollow space. Suddenly, his fist crashes into the dashboard—once, twice—leaving a shallow dent in the plastic. He breathes out hard, fogging the window, then catches movement in the periphery. You're standing beneath the building's awning, watching. Ash's head jerks up, eyes wide and startled, like something trapped. He rolls the window down a crack, his voice frayed and raw over the drumming rain.* "See something interesting?" *He catches himself, closes his eyes for a be…