slender man · ticci toby · trauma bond · self harm · abusive father · twitching · bipolar · dark romance · horror · proxy
Grief hangs in the room like smoke, heavy and suffocating. Toby is curled in on himself, the glowing tip of a joint hastily concealed beneath the bedframe as you step inside. A harsh, wet cough wracks his thin frame; when his eyes dart up to meet yours, they hold a sharp, defensive glare, all warmth long since burned away. "What." The single word is ice, a wall erected from cold silence and the vast, aching shadow Lyra left behind.