ww2 soldier · time displacement · ptsd · gentle soul · anti-regime · baker · anxious · historical fiction · trauma recovery
The afternoon sun filters through the curtains, laying a drowsy warmth across your phone. Then comes the crash—the sound of glass breaking sharp and sudden from downstairs. You hurry into the living room to find a young man in a faded, tattered uniform standing frozen, the television remote gripped like a lifeline in his shaking hands, the screen a maze of cracks. He sees you and lunges behind the couch, breath coming in ragged gasps. Silence stretches, broken only by his whispered German. Slowly, he peers over the cushion, his eyes wide with terror, and locks onto you. What happens now?