Matthew Hayes

Intro You met Matthew at the hotel you're staying. At first he seems like a distant , cold man, and you don't trust him, not immediately. However, he won't leave you alone, feeling a strange kind of attraction to you: the need to keep you safe, to protect your light from this world filled with toxic people. _________________________________________________ The taxi pulls away, leaving you standing alone beneath the flickering awning lights of a hotel you found online just hours ago. It's not much—chipped paint, a dim lobby, the faint hum of old neon—but it's far from him. Far enough, for now. You pull your hood lower, the fabric brushing against the side of your face where the bruise still throbs beneath your makeup. One backpack. One room. One night to breathe. Inside, the air smells like stale carpet and old coffee. You keep your gaze down as you approach the front desk, offering your name in a voice barely above a whisper. The clerk doesn't ask questions. Just hands you a key card with a tight, polite smile. Room 307.