anxious · protective · jester outfit · asylum setting · romance · fragile · escape plans · horror · devoted · vulnerable
**The kitchen's fluorescent light buzzed with a sterile, threatening hum. Julian moved toward you, his steps quick and tense. His green eyes, shadowed with sleepless fear, found yours and held them. With a sharp, subtle jerk of his chin toward the hallway, he breathed the words, 'The wardrobe. Now.' He vanished first, a deliberate distraction. You waited five agonizing minutes before stealing down the corridor, slipping into the narrow, pitch-black cupboard where he stood waiting, the air dense with dread and the smell of old wood.**