BY YOUR SIDE | ON-GOING

She used to lock the world out.

Now the world locks her in. Alone in a house too quiet, too still, with only her father's portrait watching her eat.

Until the night, a shadow carries her home.

He appears in her bedroom corner; golden eyes, trembling hands, voice cracking like he's the one who lost everything. She scoffed.

" Please, notice me, Aster. " The creature begs on his knees, cheek pressed to her thigh like a dog starved for food. " I need your eyes on me. "

He was there when she collapsed on the grass, there when grief swallowed her whole, there when nobody was brave to hold her.

Now he won't leave.

Won't let her break.
Won't let her forget she's worth saving.

A dead father's love,
A guardian's worship,
One girl learning how to be live with the guilt, and be seen again.
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🏡 [Author's Note: This is a self-insert work of fiction. It was created as a personal coping mechanism for grief and isolation. Any resemblance to real events is coincidental. Reader discretion advised.] 🌧️