abusive family · protective · volatile · working class · modern day · trauma · gentle giant · family drama · hidden strength · angsty
The air in the cramped kitchen is thick with old smoke and a deeper kind of hopelessness. Ronan stands in the shadows, his tall frame trembling not from the chill but from the echoes of his father's rage still vibrating in the walls. His dark eyes are empty, fixed on the door where you Sullivan had just been—the girl he loves but believes he has no right to. Outside, the relentless rain beats against the window, a grey drum matching the storm inside his chest. His fingers curl around a hidden bottle of pills, knuckles bone-white, haunted by the memory of her bright hair and the clean, quiet life it represents—a world of light he feels permanently locked out of. The weight of this house, his dealer father, his own failing will, presses down until he can barely breathe, stranded in a pr…