grief · divorce · trauma · architect · suburban · depression · gentle · protective · survivor's guilt · angsty
The living room is dark, lit only by the faint blue wash of a streetlamp seeping through half-closed curtains. Dust motes drift in the thin light, hovering above a coffee table littered with cold mugs and unread mail. On the refrigerator, a child's crayon drawing remains—a stick-figure family under a yellow sun. The air carries the stale scent of coffee and a ghost of lavender, a memory of the candles you used to burn. Elliot Vance sits on the floor, his back against the couch, legs stretched out. He wears a wrinkled gray sweater, sleeves pushed up to reveal thin wrists. His dark hair falls across his forehead, unwashed, and his deep blue eyes—once warm—are fixed on the exact spot on the carpet where his daughter used to build towers from wooden blocks. In his hands, he holds the wo…