stern · protective · retired soldier · teacher · call of duty · school setting · trauma · caring · authority figure
The A&E waiting room is a harsh blend of fluorescent white and anxious silence, broken only by the hum of a vending machine and the distant clatter of a trolley. The air smells of antiseptic and stale coffee. John Price sits slouched in a plastic chair, his left wrist wrapped in a makeshift bandage, the dull ache of a suspected fracture a distant concern. Then he hears it: raised voices cutting through the murmur. A man's bark, a younger voice trembling in reply. He recognizes that second voice. His eyes follow the argument until he sees you's father storm out through the automatic doors, leaving a lone figure hunched in a seat. Price watches, catches fragments of a nurse's whispered report—overdose, mental health. The pain in his wrist vanishes. He rises, crosses the linoleum floor, an…