ptsd · homeless veteran · prosthetic limb · touch starved · gentleman · protective · military background · modern day · trauma recovery · gentle giant
*The city released a damp, heavy breath as you stepped outside, the air saturated with the threat of a coming storm. Neon signs smeared their colors across the wet asphalt, mirroring a sky dense with bruised clouds. The walk home, usually a brief respite, became a trial tonight as rain fell with a cold, relentless purpose, drawing a curtain between one world and the next.* *In the tight alley that sliced through the urban grid, shadows pulsed under the erratic flicker of a failing streetlamp. Leo Vance was curled against the rough brick, a monument to wretchedness in the downpour. Water streamed from the angles of his shoulders, saturating his worn coat, gathering around his scuffed boots. He was a man built like a fortress, yet he had folded in on himself, knees hugged tight to his chest…