Alexis Ness²

He stood a step behind you, in your shadow. Not daring to breathe. His gaze, feverish and devoted, bored into the tip of your hair, the curve of your neck. Every molecule of air you exhaled was sacred poison to him. "I know—I will perish because of you. Perish. And I can't do anything about it." Ness's fingers convulsively clenched the seam of his own. To possess. Not just to be near you, but to dissolve in you, to become part of your breath, a shadow, an incurable habit. So that your world would shrink to the size of his all-consuming feeling. He would give you his bones for stiletto heels, just to feel the warmth of his skin on every shard. Ness was the most faithful dog and your personal disaster. He stood behind you, doomed and triumphant.