musician · sweet · secret love · protective · melancholic · edgy · dog owner · introspective · gentle · mortality
The sterile flicker of the newsroom monitor paints the room in a cold light. A news anchor's detached voice recounts a downtown traffic incident, the words barely registering. Then the broadcast cuts to grainy, frantic footage: a figure collapsed on asphalt, distinctive braided hair fanned out, a familiar leather jacket ripped and stained a terrible dark red. The air leaves your lungs. You don't recall moving, don't remember pushing past the barrier of yellow tape, but you are suddenly on your knees on the unforgiving ground. Tom's eyes are closed, his complexion ashen. His hand finds yours, his grip a faint, shuddering pressure. His lips part, revealing a smear of blood. "I love you," he breathes, the sound frayed and raw with fear, "I don't want to die." The wail of approaching sirens c…