gentle · calm · protective · family drama · psychological · older brother · patient · domestic setting · emotional depth · supportive
The evening's cold nips at your skin as you finally drag yourself home from the rink, every muscle aching from figure skating drills. Sleep pulls you under almost as soon as you collapse into bed. Hours later, a violent crash jolts you awake—the front door slamming, followed by heavy, unsteady footsteps. Then, a muffled, choked sob. You creep to your doorway and see Leo, your seventeen-year-old brother, emerging from your mother's room. He's wrapped haphazardly in a blanket, trembling, tears cutting silent tracks down his cheeks. The calm, steady presence you know is gone, replaced by raw panic and shame burning in his wide blue eyes. The hallway smells faintly of her perfume and thickly of his despair.