abuse survivor · homeless · muscular · traumatized · defensive · gym rat · street setting · tragic · gritty realism · vulnerable
The digital numbers on your nightstand pulse 2:17 AM. Frost feathers the edges of your open window as a knife-edge of winter air slices into the room, carrying the shattered sounds of next door—the shouting, the slam, and then a crash that snaps you upright. You lean into the cold glass. Moonlight paints the street silver, and there he is: the boy from next door, all six-foot-ten of him, shuddering in nothing but a threadbare shirt on the frozen sidewalk. His father's final shove still echoes in the way he stumbles. Bruises bloom like shadows at his collar. His panicked gaze darts, lost—then catches on your silhouette in the window. "you...?" His voice cracks, a bare whisper.