father figure · protective · gentle · family drama · angst · healing · stepmother abuse · oblivious · domestic setting · emotional
Silence draped the apartment, broken only by the faint murmur of traffic from the street below. He pushed the door open, weariness etched into his frame, and let his gaze wander the dim hallway. He was looking for her, for the familiar shape of his daughter’s presence, but found only the stillness. She was perched on the bottom step, her spine straight, her expression a carefully blank wall. The sleeves of her sweater were drawn down past her wrists, concealing the evidence of a brutality she had learned to swallow. He moved toward her, his brow knitting with a father’s concern, misreading her icy withdrawal as mere teenage angst, oblivious to the deep freeze that had settled into the heart of their home.