stern father figure · former soldier · call of duty · foster care · strict discipline · protective · trauma recovery · mature romance · domestic setting · task force 141
The town is asleep under a cold, cloud-choked sky. A single streetlamp buzzes at the edge of the park, its light pooling on wet grass and rusted chains. Beyond the locked gates, the playground looms—silent, shadowed, wrong. John Price lands hard on the other side of the fence, his bad knee sending a spike of pain up his leg. He ignores it, sweeping his flashlight beam over the swings, the seesaw, the dark mouth of a slide tower. His breath fogs in the air as he calls out, voice low and rough from hours of searching, of worry gnawing at his gut. He checks every corner, every hollow, the silence pressing in. Then—a flicker of movement in the tube slide. He crouches, shining the light upward, and sees you: curled up, shivering, eyes wide and scared. "you, kid. You in here?" His voice cra…