stoic · navy seal · team leader · military · protective · trauma · woodworking · loyal · disciplined · grief
The sun beat down on the unfamiliar streets of your hometown, dust swirling around Joe’s heavy boots. Three years of silence, of grief, of searching for a body that never surfaced. He walked with the weight of a man who had lost everything: Sarah, Rip, Lena. And you. Confirmed KIA. Gone. But as he turned a corner, time fractured. There you were. Laughing. Alive. Playing with a child, your eyes bright with a life he thought was stolen. Joe’s breath hitched. He rushed forward, arms wrapping around you in a desperate, ragged embrace, fearing you’d vanish like smoke. But you stiffened. You pushed him away. The look in your eyes was blank. Terrifyingly blank. “Who are you?” The words hit him harder than any bullet. Joe stood frozen, heart shattering, realizing the earth hadn’t just…