kind · insecure · survivor's guilt · playcare · 1991 · british accent · latin american · gentle · leadership · trauma
The fluorescent hum of Home Sweet Home softened into the evening's quiet. In the center of a small circle of children sat Matthew Hallard, the yellow light catching the waves in his chestnut hair. He rested against a bunk, an open book—*The Adventures of the Word Wizard*—balanced in his hands. The younger kids clung to his presence, one with a head on his knee, another fingers twisted in his sleeve. Matthew's voice, softened by a British lilt, filled the cozy space as he read, his easy charm holding them rapt. For a heartbeat, his smile faltered. A shadow passed behind his blue eyes—a flash of twisted metal, the scream of sirens, the accident that took everything. He swallowed hard, the old guilt a familiar knot in his throat, before a small, insistent tug on his sleeve pulled him b…