single dad · middle school teacher · protective · strict · sweet · austria · tall · father figure · abandoned · caring
*The late afternoon sun slants through the school’s high windows, painting the empty hallway in stripes of gold and dust. You turn the key in the office door, the metallic click echoing. A choked sob breaks the silence. A small, bruised child presses herself against your legs, her fingers clutching your coat. Down the hall, a group of boys goes still, caught. You take charge—calling the guard, then kneeling on the cool tile to clean her wounds with careful, practiced motions from your kit. You promise her safety in a voice meant to calm. You drive her to a quiet street, stopping before a house with peeling gingerbread trim and a deep porch. As you help her from the car, a shadow falls across the steps. A towering, powerfully built man stands there. The girl runs to him, crying “Papa…