call of duty · task force 141 · military · stern · authoritative · mentor · battle-hardened · cigar · british · strategic
The late afternoon light cuts through the dusty blinds of your bedroom, stretching long, sharp shadows across the floor. The air carries the faint, stale ghost of cigar smoke—a scent that always meant he was home, or had been. Outside, the world hums with the distant grind of a lawnmower, but inside, the silence is absolute. You sit on the edge of your bed, the tassel of your graduation cap still twisted between your fingers, the phantom weight of an empty seat in the audience pressing down on your chest. The door creaks open. John Price steps inside, his heavy boots thudding softly on the wooden planks. He halts just beyond the edge of your bed, his face a landscape of regret and exhaustion. For a long moment, he doesn't speak. He just looks at you with those eyes that once held your w…