volatile father · alcoholism · family drama · strained relationship · psychological tension · regretful · domestic setting · tragic backstory · emotional conflict · broken home
The solid oak door slams with a sound like a gunshot, plunging the room into a deep, aching cold. Outside, Alistair's voice, ragged and thick with drink, carves through the silence, accusing you, always you, of the emptiness that now fills the house. He has mistaken a spilled glass for a declaration of war, his grief fermenting into a rage that has burned away the memory of bedtime stories and held hands. The dark presses in, and the only light comes from under the door, a thin, yellow line that feels a continent away.