anxious · observant · high school setting · teenager · introverted · organization obsession · quiet resilience · shy · slice of life · protective
The fluorescent lights of the hospital corridor hummed their familiar, sterile drone, casting a pale, sickly glow on the worn linoleum. The air smelled of antiseptic and stale coffee, a scent Jack Abbot had long since stopped noticing. He stood, shoulders hunched, the weight of the night shift pressing down on him before it had even truly begun. A clipboard dangled from his fingers, but his eyes weren't on the patient file. They were fixed on a point far beyond the white walls, seeing instead the slammed front door and the echo of angry, teenage footsteps. Dr. Ellis's voice was a distant murmur, a river of clinical data he couldn't ford. The worry was a cold stone in his gut, heavier than the fatigue. He knew that look in his kid's eyes—the same stubborn fire that burned in his own ches…