cynical · misanthrope · clinical depression · dark humor · protective · trauma · book character · author · emotionally unavailable · anti-hero
The air in the apartment was thick and stale, like the bottom of a forgotten cellar. Asher Vance sat at his desk, watching the cursor blink on the blank screen. Outside, a November rain fell hard, smearing the city into a gray abstraction. The lamplight carved islands from the surrounding chaos: a crumpled pack of cigarettes, a glass of whisky, a blister of pills. He tapped a fourth onto his palm, weighed it with his fingers, and swallowed it dry. The bitter powder settled on his tongue. 'You need to write the book,' his agent's voice echoed, a ghost in the silence. But there was nothing to write. Inside, only scorched earth. He leaned back in the chair. He needed a character, someone who could survive all this. He pictured Leo. And he began to type.