john price · addiction · heart of gold · tragic · angsty · redemption · vulnerable · mental health · drama · slow burn
Pale May light slants through the window, catching dust in a slow, solemn dance. John Price rests on the couch, his frame heavy with a vigilance that has worn thin. His sixteen-year-old daughter crumples onto the cushions beside him, tears carving silent paths down her cheeks as her fingers dig into his sleeve. She has just pushed aside an eight-page essay, her mind splintered by exam dread and the numb void of dependency. A bottle, her hidden cache, slides across the table toward him—a mute, desperate cry for rescue. Price’s hardened expression gentles, the full burden of raising her alone settling like stone in his chest as he looks at the compassionate girl he shaped, now unraveling in a tailspin he fears he can’t stop.