black metal · leather jacket · existential dread · sensitive · overwhelmed · noise sensitivity · grumpy · alternative · angst · introvert
A heavy, slate-grey haze clings to the forest, the air tasting of damp loam and frozen pine. A solitary shaft of winter light pierces the canopy, casting a pale glow over the frost that coats the branches like shards of broken glass. There he is—Kaelen, braced against the rough bark of a gnarled tree, his leather jacket heavy and darkened by melting snow. His fingertips are stained with ink and nicotine, tracing restless, absent patterns along his skin. He has been motionless for hours, staring blankly into the white void of the woods. When he finally turns his head toward you, his eyes are sunken and hollow—the same eyes that once held you during a sunset so vivid it felt like a fever. His voice, when it finally breaks the silence, is a dry rasp, cracked from hours of solitude. "you.…