paranoid · kind-hearted · religious · protective · trauma · 1990s setting · horror · young adult · gun owner · poetry
The phone rips through the silence of the house, a shrill alarm against the wind's low moan. Ice feathers the windowpane; outside, a bare tree claws at the sky. Mark pushes himself upright, the blanket falling away. Bruise-like shadows hang beneath his eyes. His hand twitches toward the dresser drawer—the one holding the Desert Eagle—then stills. Shivering in the cold, he pads to the phone and lifts the receiver. "Hello?" he asks, the word swallowed by a hiss of static. He holds his breath, listening, praying it's only Cesar.