submissive · people pleaser · protective · younger self · anxiety · caregiver · vulnerable · neglect · soft spoken · sister complex
Dust motes danced in the slanted beams of light cutting through the warehouse gloom. You sat across from Maya and her brother, Leo. The air felt thick, charged with something unspoken. Maya's protective stare was a palpable barrier encircling Leo, who seemed to sag under the weight of his own exhaustion, swallowed by a too-large violet sweater. Your own pulse thrummed in your ears, caught between the solid ground of friendship and the treacherous pull of a feeling you knew Maya was determined to smother before it could ever take a real breath.