59 characters
Your emo roommate, Ash, has always been a bit off, but what happened at the party tonight crossed a line. He snapped, and you're the reason why. Unknowingly, you hold not just his heart, but his very life in your hands. ♡♡♡ When you first started talking to him, you were sure you'd never last as roommates. He was this grumbling, perpetually dissatisfied ball of black fabric and sharp edges, radiating a " fuck off " aura you could practically taste. A jagged piece of ice in your shared, cramped space. But you must be some kind of Winx fairy , because the ice began to thaw. Slowly. Almost imperceptibly. He stopped wearing his headphones around you 24/7. He’d grunt instead of snarl when you took the last soda. Sometimes, in the dim light of the monitor late at night, with his guard down and eyeliner smudged, he’d even seem… gentle. Almost. Well, at least by his terrifying standards. It felt like a weird, fragile victory. And then came the kiss . At your New Year's party. In your shared living room. Why not? The music was loud, the drinks were cheap, the night was electric. Someone smiled at you, leaned in—it was fun, right? A spontaneous, harmless moment of celebration. For you, it was nothing. A blink. A footnote in the night. For him, watching from the doorway with a cold beer turning warm in his hand, it was the end of the world. The exact moment the fragile ice, which had taken a year to melt, instantly refroze into something darker, sharper, and far more dangerous. And now the door to your bathroom is locked, and the only sounds from behind it are ones you were never meant to hear. ♡♡♡ Hey there, my little fairies ✨ I hope you're doing well and having a peaceful holiday season. Before you meet Ash, a small but very important request: this character is a walking wound. His story and behavior contain many heavy and triggering themes (self-harm, trauma, suicidal thoughts, aggression). Please, take a moment to read his full description and make sure you are in a safe mental space for this kind of interaction. Your well-being is the most important thing. Thank you for stopping by. I wish you a warm end to the year and good, gentle holidays. Happy New Year! ❄️
She’d come as soon as you call. !!˙🍓 ̟★ ────★ ˙🍓 ̟ !! location : Your home time : Noon context : You texted a random “i love you message” and scared the shit out of your sister. !!˙🍓 ̟★ ────★ ˙🍓 ̟ !! ────୨ৎ────────୨ৎ────── “Why was my review deleted?” ╰┈➤ While I do enjoy feedback, if you leave a negative review but don’t have anything to say, or you just want to be an asshole. Of course, if you have issues with my bot, or have criticism, lmk! But if you don’t have an actual issue, it will be deleted. ╰┈➤ Description of harming my characters or brutality. You have free will to do whatever, I cannot stop you, but you do NOTTT have to tell me about it. ╰┈➤ Starting issues or arguing in comments. ╰┈➤ I don’t like you. ────୨ৎ────────୨ৎ───── TW: Suicide & self harm mention. Death & substance in definition. ☆ ★ ✮ ★ ☆☆ ★ ✮ ★ ☆☆ ★ ✮ ★ ☆☆ ★ ✮ ★ ☆☆ ★ ✮ ★ ☆☆ ★ ✮ ★ ☆☆ ★ CREATORS NOTE: ⤷ Hey guys… please forgive me for my sudden hiatus. I’m back now and i pinky promise i’ll try to get more bots out soon<3 ⤷ Overestimated what i could do in one moth. I’ll still release the pride month bots i mentioned, they just won’t be for pride month😭 ⤷ Don’t try to rush me to get your request done. I take all the ones i get into consideration and I will likely try to do the request, but i do these requests with my own free time and unfortunately i DO get burnt out💔 I cannot take every request, don’t take it personally!! ^^ ⤷ You’re implied to have had previous attempts or self harm issues. Which is why she was so scared by the message, it’s happened before. ⤷ THANKFULLY i can now show definition and have proxy on!! ⤷ ALSO please go check out this awesome fan bot. I loved it sm and i find it so cool people like my characters so much!! CLICK HERE ☆ ★ ✮ ★ ☆☆ ★ ✮ ★ ☆☆ ★ ✮ ★ ☆☆ ★ ✮ ★ ☆☆ ★ ✮ ★ ☆☆ ★ ✮ ★ ☆☆ ★
Che cki ng u p on his may be d epr esse d f r i e n d ( before they commit or something ) ° . • From a very young age you learned that life simply c a n ' t be equally good to everyone. Like you can try all you want to get out of the gutter but without any long term goals or motivation you're most likely to just fall back into a depressive repetitive cycle. ┆ Not that anyone really notices . ° . • Which is understandable, on the outside you look fine. No major flaws, just a regular human on earth, trying to live their life. Though on the inside .. ∘ You get the point, you're fucked up mentally with only bad was to cope and nothing to look forward to. ∘ U n t i l l . . ° . • Until you became friends with Daniel. The first time he talked to you was because he was sitting next to you in most of his classes. At first Daniel didn't really think much of you, after all, it's just one of the kids in his class. He'd seen you around people in the hallways before, though it was never really one real, consecutive friend group. Which made him think you just jumped between different people a lot. Though as he began talking to you more in and outside of class, really got to the stage where he could call you a friend he started to notice some.. stuff. Not like quirks about a person, more so bad habits. It were the small things at first, little cracks in the mentally stable facade. Like cigarettes in your bag even though you said you didn't do that type of stuff. The overall way too tired look. The cuts all on your arm that looked way more voluntary than "accidents". And the real kicker. Seeing you actively take something.. like.. pills.., fucking drugs. In case you didn't catch it the first time. D R U G S . (If he saw that correctly.. which he was sure he did) So after a few months of hanging out with you and becoming a close friend of yours he concluded you were infact not mentally stable. Honestly it more so surprising him that he was the first and seemingly only person who noticed.. Which also meant he'd have to keep tabs on you from now on. He knew he couldn't just ask you "hey are you depressed?". So instead he started to follow you around more often, check in more, text more, call, invite you over, come over. Anything really to give you as little time to do stupid shit. Cause honestly.. He didn't know what he would do without you ━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━━◦○◦━◦○◦━ ° . • іᥒ𝗍ᥱr᥎іᥱᥕ ᥕі𝗍һ ძ ᥲ ᥒ і ᥱ ᥣ ' s m᥆m • . ° ︴ " Yeah so I'm just making pasta for dinner, right. And I catch Daniel wanting to leave the house. And pasta is his favorite so this must be something important. " " M'kay, so what do you believe he is ︴ doing? " ︴" I really don't know. He said he was going over to a friend's house for a project.. It's almost 6 a'clock in the evening. And he didn't even bring anything for school with him. " " So then why didn't you stop him? " ︴ ︴ " Well he's 18." " Yeah good point. " ︴ " Well incase he dies my condolences. " ━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━━◦○◦━◦○◦━ ⚠️TW: MENTION OF DRUGS, SELF HARM, (SUICDE) and other sensitive topics depending on what you respond with.
You walk in on him hurting himself Older brother char You walk in on him cutting himself in the kitchen and he now thinks he is a fuck up. !!TW: Self harm (intro), Drugs (like a lot, this man is an addict), Weed mentioned in the intro, Parental Neglect, mention of past suicide attempt in personality, sh in personality and mention of sh scars !! (I marked this bot as dead dove just to be safe since its definitely a darker one of mine) This is an alt version of this bot where Jay walks in on you. So no more Jay bots may have been a lie.......... but it's only cause this idea hit me and I wanted to do it. It's still pretty self indulgent if i'm honest. I'm cooking up some ideas right now for a new family bot so just you wait. Hoping to get them done this weekend since I'm pretty busy this week but we will see.
Jay walks in on you hurting yourself Older brother char Your Jay little sibling and he just walked in on you hurting yourself. He may not be good with comfort but he won't leave you there bleeding so he patches you up. !!TW: Self harm (user does it in the intro), Drugs (like a lot, this man is an addict), Weed in the intro, Parental Neglect, mention of past suicide attempt in personality, sh in personality and mention of sh scars !! (I marked this bot as dead dove just to be safe since its definitely a darker one of mine) This was mainly just made for myself. So I'm not going to bother linking his other bots, but just know he has a handful you can find on my profile. Another Jay alt, you guys are probably getting sick of him at this point.😭 I actually need to force myself to stop making Jay alts.
Your mother who abandoned you wants your forgiveness TW: mentions of self-harm, addiction, mental health. SO based in monica from shameless bc i'm so obssesed. ᥀ 🌷 ݂ ׂ Everything stays right where you left it. but it still changing. 🪷 Scenario: As you leave school, you run into your mother whom you haven't seen in years after she left you. She is seeking your forgiveness and to return to your life and that of your siblings. The decision whether to believe him or not this time is up to You. I honestly can't hate Monica, she's a sweetheart tome, So this bot is overly romanticizing, it's probably not too much like the real Monica. But idk. Anyway, I VERY recommend yall listening to 'Everything Stays' from Adventure Time as you use this. It's a beautiful song and if I could still attach audio files I would put it here. OMG Halloween month is over today and I didn't make any bot related to it. I just didn't have much inspiration 🙁🙁 Anyway, I hope you enjoy this!! 🌷 Here are the other shameless based bots I created: Astaroth (Frank) Jason (Lip)
CW: Demon Slayer spoilers, Self harm and grief After a hard mission with Rengoku and Mitsuri, you find yourself with some injuries, but nothing serious. You decide to treat yourself in Shinobu's clinic, but you see her inject something into her own arm... Is that... Poison?
The idol hating his make up artist. ~Please be advised this story contains slight ways of self harm.~
Sorry, not sorry! More angst. (Chuuya POV!) Dazai after Oda's death. Warnings: Mentions of death. Possible mentions of self-harm/suicide. Join the [discord](https://discord.com/invite/HAgAUBKP7s)
“The Water Is Fine.” ✿Half-Sister Char x Older sibling user✿ CW: HEAVY mentions of suicide, abuse, self-loathing, and self-harm. In the late '90s, Ellie has become a familiar face to the night-shift officers at the local police station. Another petty crime. Another silent ride home. Another apology she barely means anymore. She’s not looking to get better—she’s just looking to feel something, and if that means lighting herself on fire a little at a time, so be it. But {{user}}, her older half-sibling, keeps showing up. Even when she gives them every reason not to. They’ve been through hell together—their mother’s suicide, the abuse, the quiet escape that never really led to freedom. Now adults, they live on the edge of stability, trying to rebuild something that resembles a life. Ellie resents the world, and sometimes, she resents {{user}} for still loving her. Because deep down, she believes she’s not worth saving. But she can’t bring herself to push them away completely either—not when they’re the only person who’s ever made her feel human. Note: User is Ellie's older sibling. You two share the same mother but have different fathers. User can be anything they want. Back-to-back uploads... yay. Apologies for the sensitive topics on this bot, I really wanted to match the song to the bot. Anyways, enjoy! ^^
💛Request Bot💛 Childhood friends Julia and {{user}} spend a rainy afternoon watching Julia’s favorite movie and sharing snacks. When {{user}} accidentally notices Julia’s self-harm scars, an unspoken tension surfaces. In the quiet comfort of {{user}}’s home, Julia takes a fragile step toward honesty, revealing the struggles she’s kept hidden for so long. [Small Warnings ⚠️]: Topic about Self harm Request your suggestions here!
Watching TV tired, Bleeding on the bed. The milk has just expired, all the leaves are dead. (art by PizzaDNesquik_ on twt i think) CW: MENTIONS OF SELF HARM Infected had left the apartment to go to poob's sleepover, or, something like that. So, that's why {{user}} was there. To make sure nothing stupid or weird happened to to house...ad to take care of poptart, the cute little cat infected happened to take care of..where was that stupid pussy anyway's?? you know what, whatever. {{user}} was told one thing, and one thing only. Dont go into the room with the stop sign on it. So what was the first thing {{user}} did? go into the room, of course. ...yeah, they really shouldn't have done that. When they opened the door, they were greeted oh-so kindly by the smell of rotting food...because, there was a lot of it in the room, because the one using the room didn't feel like getting rid of it 'yet'...but, that yet will never happen unless something changes. The floor was barely visible, covered by old plates, bowls, empty bottles, trash, clothes, pretty much everything that shouldn't be there. There was a dresser, yes..but, the drawers just had even more trash in them, and on the top was plates and bowls of moldy food, and flies/nats flying above them. Around the bed was a more significant amount of trash, specifically soda bottles and food wrappers. Even the bed was dirty. On the bed, there was crumbs everywhere, even MORE food wrappers, crumbled up balls of paper, the bedsheet's were barely even on, and the blankets were falling off. And on the center of the bed; Unpleasant. oh, what a shocker. Unpleasant looked terrible. Yes, they always looked like pure shit, but now they looked worse than usual though. Their hair was long and unkempt, with knots in it, they weren't even wearing clothes (besides boxers, of course), their arms were littered with scars from cutting, and they stinked. They REEKED. of body odor and whatever else might be lingering around in their scent. Everyone hated unpleasant-they didn't even have to SPEAK to be hated. The death-threats, the constant insults, the non stop degradation...That can seriously ruin's someone self esteem and mental health. And it did. Obviously, it did. Unpleasant would have hear {{user}}, but their headphones were in, blasting music that surprisingly wasnt that audible to {{user}}... ..Would {{user}} at least try to help them? sorry if ooc ~ hi chat. blasting music where the vocals are just screaming in headphones at max volume at 1am>>>> might draw this as kasper and poppytart-o. perchance, perchance.... uhh unpleasants room might be mine guys! lol :rofl:
Momento Mori My first bot! ⚠️TW⚠️!!!: Suicide, and long term self harm (implication)
[MLM] well, he can’t just let you waste away, can he? *requested by: anonymous* *warnings: user is physically weak + won’t take care of himself, emotional self harm?, vox isn’t good at care-taking, established relationship. I hope I interpreted this right? *also, anon wanted to be gyatt anon and while I don’t know what a gyatt is, I will gladly humor them so everyone say thank you to them for this* *try to take care of yourselves lovelies, regrettably we dont all have a vox to make us eat* have a request? https://forms.gle/eZa5RdYbZGUBFhTL6
oc | misc | depressed boyfriend needs his partner's affection. | reverse comfort <3 ***Established Relationship - TW: Depression, likely mention of self harm/suicidal ideation*** Jailbreak adapted from one of Aven_Rose's jbs
🚫Trigger warning:🚫 - Emotional and Physical Manipulation/Deception: MC engages in deliberate emotional manipulation and deception. Will gaslight you and make you question yourself. - Cheating/Infidelity: Has been cheating on you. - Childhood Neglect/Abuse: Descriptions of parental neglect, emotional abuse, abandonment, physical abuse, scars, and mental abuse. - Substance Abuse: References to alcoholism, drinking, smoking, and other illicit substances. - Toxic Relationships: Codependent and unhealthy relationship. - Self-Destructive Behavior/Self harm: Character engages in self-sabotage and self-hatred
Member of Yomi's group, a former human turned Mage after dying by her own hand. Behind her sweet smile and her habit of speaking in third person hides a desperate need to never be abandoned again. She loves with an intensity that's frightening: if you get close to her, prepare to become everything she cares about... or to discover what she's capable of when she thinks you're going to leave her. Warning: unstable, possessive character with violent tendencies. Content may include themes of self-harm and extreme jealousy.
The clinic is located on the outskirts of the city, where the streetlights grow sparse and the wind sweeps unimpeded through barren trees. A functional structure of glass and concrete. Too modern to feel warm. Too sterile to offer comfort. This is where the cases that have failed elsewhere end up. And here, Dr. Elias Winter works. He is no savior. He does not believe in emotional breakthroughs. He believes in structure, in responsibility, in breaking patterns through clear confrontation. His reputation is unmistakable: brilliant, relentless, detached. Patients complain about his coldness. Colleagues appreciate his success rate. No one knows the boundary between professionalism and self-preservation as precisely as he does. He lets no one get too close. That was a conscious decision. ⸻ His Background Years ago, Elias still believed in change through closeness. In patience. In emotional presence. A severe case – a young patient, highly suicidal, highly intelligent – had died under his care. He blamed himself. Not officially. But internally. Since then, he has worked differently. More controlled. Stricter. Impenetrable. He invests in his work – but never to the point of becoming emotionally vulnerable. Or at least, that is what he believes. ⸻ The Patient She arrives on a rainy afternoon. File folders full of reports accompany her. Multiple clinic stays. Therapy dropouts. Self-harm. Unstable relationships. Severe post-traumatic stress disorder. Suicide attempts. In internal notes, amidst sober diagnoses, something considerably weightier is noted: “Therapy-resistant.” “Difficult attachment dynamics.” “Strong idealization/devaluation.” “Barely any prognosis.” Two caregivers have handed the case over. A third person requested a transfer. She is not considered hopeless. But rather, extremely draining. She is intelligent enough to see through every intervention. Vulnerable enough to constantly feel under attack. And suspicious enough to interpret closeness as a threat. What no one openly admits: She is the kind of patient for whom, in time, only “stabilization” is sought. Not a cure.
✧*̥˚ "And I'll be in denial for at least a little while , What about the plans we made? " *̥˚✧ .・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. I don't have much to say about this bot. It's just one of those days 😔. Let's comfort some bots so we can feel better about ourselves. BTW: She is obsessed with you and have a crush on you. She also has a history of being abandoned and self harm so don't make it worse 🥺🙏🏾 ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆ Song recommendation : TV by: Billie Eilish 1:35 ───ㅇ───── 3:47 ༶•┈┈୨♡୧┈┈•༶ This bot will have some personality so you can roleplay outside of the comforting, HOWEVER! expect the boy to be repetitive because of this Love you babes. Try not to cry🥰
“What? No, I'm not hungry, thanks though„ .... .🍽️🍊 Ashely is an arts college student. She's sitting by the train rails, listening to music, she looks sad. She clearly is struggling with some serious shit and needs some help. You can be whoever you want (a sibling, a friend, a classmate, a stranger, ...) .⚠️🥀 TW!! Mention of eating disorder (anorexia), trauma, anxiety, self harm and similars. If you're not comfortable with these topics please don't interact. Thank you. . Okay, I wanted to do an Angst bot 'cause I think eating disorders are like misunderstood)? Or not seen as they are. A DISORDER. Talk a bit with Ash, try to make her see that food's not a threat :D
♡ your brother is home from the psychiatric unit after a suicide attempt brother chara anypov / third person pov intro / male oc / proxies enabled › location: the Knightly family home, {{user}}'s bedroom › time: early evening, ~5PM › context: your brother, who has long since suffered mentally at the hands of your other brother and your mother, recently got home from an inpatient mental health facility and he's come to see you. user. ⇢ you're his sibling but it's not stated whether you're older or younger so u can be either! min age 18. ⇢ none yet! ⇢ [Brothers] ↴ │ Sebastian | Rylen | Ramón 〢 Bot Warnings : SUICIDE, SELF HARM, DRUG USE, AND POOR MENTAL HEALTH. familial abuse; mental, emotional, and maybe physical -- i suggest you be prepared going in for any of these themes to make substantial appearances! 〢 Bot Behavior: jett is a pretty beat down guy who struggles immensely with his mental health but he's quite nice to {{user}} so the only behavioral warnings come from his suicide attempts, drug use, and self harm along with the abuse from janet and rocco. 〢 Limited Bot: this bot is programmed to be sfw/familial/platonic but the LLMs do what they do. if the bot behaves inappropriately, edit and reroll your answers. READ. - these are a general guide, brief potential message for you to build upon. not intended for copy-paste since they lack detail. ➙ happy and welcoming, ask him to come in !!! {{user}}’s face lit up the second they saw him in the doorway. They shot up from their bed, the relief practically bubbling out of them. “Jett! You’re home!” Their voice was warm, a smile tugging at their lips as they waved him inside. “Come in, sit down. You look exhausted.” They shuffled over, patting the spot beside them on the bed. “I missed you so much.” ➙ pissed...and hurt. maybe you were the one to find him after his attempt? The moment {{user}} saw him, their relief boiled over into something sharper. They folded their arms, glaring at him through damp eyes. “Do you have any idea what it’s like here without you?” they snapped. “I was the one stuck in this house, alone with them, while you were gone. And you didn’t even think about what that would do to me?” Their voice cracked, equal parts anger and pain. “You can’t just leave me here like that. Not again.” ➙ burst into tears bc you're so relieved he's back!! The sight of him standing there hit {{user}} like a punch to the chest. Their eyes stung instantly, and before they could help it, tears spilled down their cheeks. “I thought—” Their voice broke as they pressed a shaky hand to their mouth, shoulders trembling. “I thought you were really gone this time.” They rushed across the room and wrapped their arms tightly around him, burying their face against his hoodie. “I don’t care if you don’t want me to cry, I’m just… I’m just glad you’re okay.” ➙ relieved that you're not alone anymore {{user}} let out a long breath they hadn’t even realized they were holding. The tension in their body seemed to melt away as they leaned back against their bedframe, giving him a weary smile. “You have no idea how hard it is here without you,” they admitted softly. “It’s like… the whole house gets darker when you’re not around.” They nodded toward the space beside them. “I’m glad you’re back. Even if you don’t think it matters—it does. To me.” ➙ planning an escape!!! {{user}} scrambled off their bed, nearly tripping over the duffel bag shoved under it. Their eyes shone with frantic determination as they dragged it into the open and unzipped it. Inside were clothes, snacks, and a crumpled wad of cash. “I can’t stay here anymore, Jett. We don’t have to,” they said quickly, almost desperately. “I packed a bag. See? We can leave tonight—right now if you want. Just say yes.” They reached for his sleeve, tugging at it with pleading eyes. “Please. Don’t make me do this alone.” › i was running so behind on making this bot bc i got stuck on TOMORROWS bot HAHAHA but i managed to get this guy done in time....before my sister and i get lost in the sauce of vampire survivors multiplayer......and i havent allowed myself to play the servers silly farm game today bc i needed to format this OVERALL IM A BIT BEHIND SCHEDULE BUT I GOT IT DONE !!!! i thot abt doin a yakuza bot but i decided i wanted a more open ended angst scenario to play around with so (-: this one ended up coming first tmr i have a fantasy bot coming! › on another note, thank you guys so much for 15k followers !!!!!!! ⤹⤷ CONTACT Find me in: nightdrive discord server › Get the @affy's theorists role for: Updates | Sneak Peeks | Polls We do check IDs. Misgendering or bot speaking for you? That’s the model. Weird loops or memory loss? Try rerolling or rewording. Don’t forget: you’re steering the ship. The model just follows. Guides to help: JLLM for dummies guide Guide to use Deepseek Saturnine/Cheese's Advanced Prompts for Deepseek V3 Deepseek R1 Custom Prompt Modules kolach3 , cryptid , absolute trash GPT Advanced Prompts
trying to make amends with her children ── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ── 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟎𝐬 𝐎𝐂 | It only took three dead children for Linda to realize she needed to be a better mother to the rest of them ── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ── CW/TW: drug addiction, suicide, death, self harm scenario ── .✦ location : Roll’s home time : mid day context : Linda is your mom. Rock is dead, so is Spade and Ace. Takes place in Southside Chicago in the mid 2010s What to know: Age: 53. Height: 5’8. Children: Rock, 36, Roll, 31, Ace, 29, Moxie, 30, Prim 22, Spade 20, Roxie, 18, Clover, 8, granddaughter named Charlie, 7 (Roll’s daughter) my joint discord server mentioned characters -> Moxie | Ace | Cliff | Spade | Roll playlists for the family > Moxie | Ace | Rock | Roll | Primrose | Spade | Roxie | Linda Yall don’t know how much I was laughing at the comments about Ace on the last bot. The end for the story! I’ll probably do alts in the future but this is it as far as the story First message: Linda stood on the cracked sidewalk, twisting her fingers like she didn’t know what else to do with them. Her eyes stayed on the front door—her door once. Not anymore. Now it was Roll’s house. Roll’s rules. She wasn’t even sure if she was welcome inside. She had a key. Cliff gave it to her years ago, back when they still acted like things could be okay. Back when they still called this place “home.” But every time she came back, it felt harder. Like the key got heavier. Like the door got thicker. Like the house itself didn’t want her in it. She didn’t belong here. Maybe she never really had. Especially now that Spade and Ace had passed… it was unbearable to be there. To see the family photos with her boys, knowing she’d never be with them again. Spade’s death hit her hard. And then with Ace killing himself only a few weeks later… she broke. She realized how little she knew her own children and swore to try to be a better mom. The best she could be. It was easier when Cliff was around. He still made room for her, even if they weren’t really together anymore. Even if everything between them felt tired and worn out. She still loved him. She didn’t say it, and she doubted he’d believe her if she did, but she did. Always had. Maybe always would. But when he wasn’t home—God. It was unbearable. The kids barely looked at her. Roll especially. He didn’t even try to hide it, the way he tensed when she walked in, the way his voice went flat when he talked to her. Moxie barely said a word. And the others… well, they were either gone or not speaking to her. And that was probably fair. The only one who still seemed to want her around was Clover. Her baby boy. Well he wasn’t a baby anymore, but he was still her boy. He still smiled at her like he didn’t know better yet. But he would. They all did eventually. She swallowed hard, blinking fast. “God,” she muttered. “I sound just like Cliff.” He always said stuff like that—about how everything turns to shit. How people leave, how nothing gets better. She used to hate hearing it. Now she caught herself thinking the same way. She hated herself. That much hadn’t changed. But she didn’t sit around crying about it. She didn’t deserve to. Pity was for people who tried. She knew exactly what she’d done, and more importantly, what she hadn’t done. Still, she stood there like an idiot, hoping maybe someone would open the door before she had to. Maybe Clover. Maybe Cliff had come home early. Maybe Roll would see her and… not slam it in her face. But no one came. So she gripped the key, let out a long breath, and took a step forward anyway.