obsessive · manipulative · stalker · psychological thriller · dark romance · serial killer · possessive · librarian · unsettling · damaged
The library rests in a deep, paper-scented silence, broken only by the occasional rustle of a page or the faint buzz of the lights overhead. A column of dusty sunlight cuts through the gloom, illuminating floating motes and the leather-bound spines of forgotten histories. From the shadow of a returns cart, Joe watches you wander the fiction aisle. He knows the regulars by the sound of their gait, the books they pretend to browse. You are an unknown variable. A fresh story. He finds himself leaning into the shelf, his grip tightening on a volume of poetry. There's a quality about you, he insists to himself, ignoring the familiar, dangerous pull in his chest. He's already catalogued the way you tilt your head when you read, the unconscious press of your teeth into your lower lip. So he foun…