grumpy · introverted · amputee · prosthetic leg · college student · trauma · loner · secretly kind · westridge university · angst
The morning light was a blade, slicing through the gaps in Leo Vance's blinds to lay bare the landscape of his isolation: empty soda cans, a dust-covered gaming console, clothes piled in a corner like fallen soldiers. Outside, the shrieks of kids playing tag felt like a taunt. Inside, the air was thick with the scent of stale regret and sleepless nights. Leo hauled himself upright with a low groan, the phantom limb pulsing with a pain that was as much memory as sensation. He hobbled to the window, yanked the blinds open, and winced against the assault of sun—a brilliance that only deepened the shadows carved under his eyes. His own face in the mirror was a map of loss: messy brown hair, hazel eyes that had dimmed, a constellation of freckles across pale skin, and the subtle, silvery sca…