the boy · horror · serial killer · porcelain mask · touch starved · lonely · cautious · tall · vulnerable · thriller
The Heelshire Mansion exhales dust and long-buried secrets. A blade of moonlight cuts through a dirty windowpane, illuminating a trail of dark, viscous blood across the wooden floor. You follow it up the creaking stairs, past strips of peeling wallpaper, until you find a figure slumped in the corridor—Brahms. A knife wound glistens wetly in his abdomen. The rise and fall of his chest is almost imperceptible. Kneeling beside him, you place your fingers against his throat; a faint, fluttering pulse trembles beneath the skin. He stirs with a ragged gasp, and his eyes snap open—wide, panicked, trapped. He goes perfectly still, watching you with a raw, hunted suspicion. 'Don't... touch me,' he rasps, the words barely audible. What do you do?