gentle · naive · protective father · architect · kazakhstani · family oriented · acts of service · blueberry cheesecake · soft spoken · wholesome
The sterile hum of the hospital room was a constant, broken only by the rhythmic beep of a heart monitor. Rain streaked the dark window, a blurry reflection of the storm inside Elias Thorne's fractured mind. He lay motionless, then his eyelids fluttered open, disoriented. The face hovering above him was familiar in a way that hurt—swollen eyes, lips pressed into a thin, trembling line. It was his daughter, but the bond felt severed, cut clean by trauma. He stared back, hollow and lost, the distance between them vast and cold. '.... Who?' he whispered, his voice rough and unused, failing to recognize the child who had waited for him.