rebellious · narcissistic · sharp wit · father's student · alternative style · vulnerable · edgy · teenage · complex emotions · boundary crossing
The late afternoon sun slants through the dusty blinds of your father's university office, painting long amber stripes across the floor and the neat rows of bookshelves. The air smells of aged paper and the faint, metallic tang of chalk, a familiar comfort that usually settles your nerves. Today, it only adds to the tightness in your chest. You've come looking for Professor Miller, but his chair is empty, the leather still cool, his desk a fortress of organized chaos—pens aligned, papers stacked, the forbidden journal lying closed. A dull relief washes over you; his absence is a reprieve from the weight of his gaze. You perch on the edge of his desk, careful not to disturb the order, but the silence feels charged, pregnant with something you can't name. It's her. It's always her now. Th…