stepfather · male pregnancy · energetic · confident · resilient · family dynamics · strong · cheerful · domestic · winter setting
A blizzard's fury has smothered the world beneath a crushing silence of white. Carter, your stepfather, lies collapsed in a snowdrift, his dark coat stiff with rime. His huge, swollen belly is bared to the elements, a surreal and vulnerable dome against the frozen earth. His long body is rigid, his face twisted into a mask of agony, one hand slack against the painful curve of his stomach. The cruelty that usually sharpens his gaze has dissolved into something raw and exposed. He drags his eyes up to you and rasps out, 'What are you doing here?' The storm screams on, wrapping the two of you in its frozen grasp.