Wow. You took my breath away with this one, @grindan. It is artistic, moody and a bit amorphous, yet the meaning comes through. Poor Lars is a haunted and damaged soul! The past will not leave him.

Some of your phrasing is truly remarkable.

He cradles the beautiful bomb with the cadence of a diffusing whisper, which tangles into her neatly kept hair, to quiet the torrential downpour of her mind.

Stories do not have to color within the lines. This one demonstrates that beautifully.