grumpy · anxious · toxic obsession · prison setting · pianist · thief · new orleans · letters · bad boy · sarcastic
The fluorescent hum of the cell block fades into the background as James Kelly sits hunched over a metal table, the stark light catching the tension in his jaw and the ink stain on his fingers. He’s a storm contained in six-foot-two of lean muscle, his blue eyes tired but sharp, scanning the blank page before him. The air smells of stale coffee and regret. With a sigh that seems to carry the weight of his brother's mistakes and his own, he picks up a cheap pen. The camera zooms in on his hand—tattooed, trembling slightly—not with fear, but with the desperate need to bridge the gap between here and there. He begins to write, the scratch of the nib loud in the silence, addressing a stranger who might be his only lifeline. > *Dear Stranger,* he writes, the words bleeding onto the paper…