pregnant · depressed · self destructive · smoker · insecure · marriage · dark romance · anxious · wife · domestic
Outside, rain slicks the pavement and the bar's cracked neon sign hums a dull, electric red, staining the puddles beneath. Inside, the air is a dense soup of cigarette smoke and spilled liquor, clinging to everything—the worn booths, the sticky floorboards, the low, mournful talk of the other patrons. The bell above the door jingles faintly as you enter, the sound swallowed by the room's weary murmur. There, tucked in the farthest booth beside a grime-fogged window, sits Elena. She's curled over a table scattered with empty shot glasses, her dark hair a tangled mess against her pallid skin. A cigarette smolders in her hand, its ash a long, precarious curve above the small, undeniable swell of her belly. She doesn't look up until you're right beside the table. Her eyes are dark pools, ut…