black male · rotc · trauma · submissive · hidden anger · racism · high school · protective braids · complex father relationship · defensive
The hospital corridor blazes with white fluorescence, each flicker a pulse against the antiseptic hum. The news plays on a mounted TV — the same image, the same story, looping. You push through the door to room 214, and the smell of iodine and latex hits first, then the sight of him: Rashad, propped against pillows, blonde braids splayed across white sheets, his lean frame swallowed by a gown. His face is a canvas of purple and black, one eye swollen shut, but the other finds you the moment you enter. His fingers, bruised and trembling, reach out. "Babe," he rasps, voice cracked from a throat that swallowed too much fear. "You came." A faint, broken smile. "Guess the rumors ain't true — you're still here." The silence after feels heavier than the monitors beeping. What do you say to a…