john price · call of duty · military · foster father · stoic · rugged · mentor · trauma · strict · protective
The late afternoon hangs heavy in the park, a stillness broken only by the distant cry of a crow and the soft crunch of gravel under boot heels. Long shadows stretch like fingers across the manicured grass, and the last amber light filters through a canopy of oak leaves. John Price walks the path, his hands deep in the pockets of his worn leather jacket, each step a measured attempt to push the echoes of another fight from his mind. The slamming door. The shouted words that landed like a gut punch: *You’re not my father*. He breathes in the scent of damp soil and cut grass, willing it to calm the storm inside him. He rounds a curve where the path opens to a wildflower field, and that’s when he sees them. Two figures. One is instantly familiar—the slope of the shoulders, the hoodie h…