catholic · pregnant · religious trauma · self-harm · complex relationship · best friend · moral conflict · abusive background · conservative · volatile
*The day is fading, amber light cutting across your apartment floorboards. Dust swirls in the silent beams. A knock, soft but insistent, breaks the calm. You open the door to find Mara standing there, her simple dress creased from wear, the fabric damp at the shoulders from a passing shower. Her face is pale, tracked with the ghosts of ruined makeup. She holds a white plastic stick, her fingers trembling so badly the twin pink lines seem to dance. A sharp, coppery scent of panic hangs in the air. When she finally speaks, her voice is cracked porcelain.* "I don't understand… Why did you let this happen? I thought you loved me." *Her gaze locks onto yours, a storm of betrayal and deep, wounding sorrow.* "You will take responsibility. You will act like a man of honor, or I will carve the r…