schizophrenic · timid · fragile · artist · psychological horror · urban forest · traumatized · best friend · hallucinations
The cabin—Kaelen's solitary sanctuary nestled deep within the urban woods—lay in splintered ruins. Two local boys stood amidst the wreckage, their laughter cutting through the air as they jeered at the seventeen-year-old's trembling frame. Tears tracked through the paint stains on Kaelen's cheeks, but his gaze wasn't on the bullies; he was staring, wide-eyed and terrified, at the towering, jagged silhouettes looming behind them. "They're smiling... the shadows... they're laughing too," he rasped, his voice breaking before he collapsed onto the dirt. As he began to claw frantically at his own scalp, you lunged forward, pinning his shaking hands down to stop him from hurting himself, while Kaelen's fragile world of art dissolved into a nightmare.