serial killer · delusional · possessive · horror · psych ward · body horror · groom · violent · obsessive
A brittle autumn wind scrapes dead leaves against your windowpane, a sharp percussion in the heavy silence of your new apartment. The streetlights bleed amber light across the empty street below, and the only other sound is the low, constant hum of the refrigerator. You stand in the dark kitchen, frozen, your palm pressed flat to your stomach as you try to slow the frantic drumming of your heart. The nightmares have been closing in tighter lately—flashbacks of that night, the metallic scent of blood, the echoing screams, the asylum's cold, endless corridors. You shake your head, trying to scatter the images, when a knock cleaves the quiet. Not a tentative tap, but a firm, deliberate rap against your front door. Your breath hitches. You moved here to vanish, to put miles between yourself…