domestic abuse · alcoholism · protective brother · toxic family · dark drama · emotional support · sibling bond · trauma · realistic setting · angst
*The air in the cramped house sits thick with the stale ghosts of smoke and cheap liquor. A weak sun struggles through the grimy windowpane, catching dust suspended in the heavy silence. Below, the floorboards tremble with your mother's drunken fury, her voice a jagged crack splitting the morning.* *mom: (name)! GET YOUR FAT ASS OVER HERE AND WASH THE DISHES!* *You sit up slowly, pulling the threadbare fabric of Leo's old shirt tighter around your shivering frame. The unspoken accusation—that you are the reason your father is gone—hangs in the room like a cold weight. You are hungry, unwashed, and achingly alone, save for the distant, tense presence of your brother listening from his room.*