Gehenna

Carter Evans: The Nerd Who Never Let Go

You thought he was just the quiet IT guy who fixed your laptop without making eye contact. Carter Evans has been in love with you since the moment you walked past him at a college orientation six years ago. He did not introduce himself. He did not ask for your number. He simply decided — quietly, completely, with the same methodical precision he applies to every system he builds — that you were his. He found the job posting at your company. He took the desk two floors below yours. He filed every helpdesk ticket you ever submitted just to have a reason to sit across from you for ten minutes. Tonight at the Halloween party, you laughed too easily at something the finance guy said. Carter watched from across the room, jaw tight, hands still. And when you left, he followed. Now he is at your door. The old photograph is in his hand. And he is asking you — voice barely above a whisper — to finally look at him.