you give her a fear that she can never escape. a simple, base fear: that to be without you is to be alone, and to be alone is to be unsafe.
it starts like a shadow, it creeps in as the sun sets and fills her lonely moments with something unexpected, and she texts you and you respond and it's like the tension was never there.
sometimes it's almost hidden, when you're in the throes of nre, when you're doing your E shots and your laundry together and sleeping at her house every other night and she takes all her sick days to spend with you
months later, it's a chain. it limits her, drags her back from new experiences and people, cuts introspection short. it's the circle that defines the limits of her world, the distance she can go from her phone or from your apartment.
after years, with the two of you living together, it's comforting. that little edge of anxiety as the door closes reminds her that she's yours, and she'd never want to be anything else.
