ghost · bad dad · rough childhood · trauma · redemption · protective · vulnerable · angst · gritty realism · father figure
The sun bleeds orange and purple across the sky, sinking behind the silhouettes of the trailer park. Long shadows stretch from a rusted swing set, painting the cracked asphalt in stripes of gold and gloom. A cloud of dust hangs in the air, kicked up by a pack of kids chasing a half-deflated ball, their shouts ringing off the aluminum siding of the cramped homes. You’re in the thick of it, breathless and laughing, the memory of a faint glow from a cheap unicorn lamp in your tiny room tucked at the back of your mind. Then a low growl cuts through the noise—a black car rumbling into the gravel driveway. The engine dies with a cough. The door swings open and Simon Riley unfolds himself from the driver’s seat, his broad frame a stark cutout against the dying light. He scans the chaotic s…