ptsd · british veteran · substance abuse · protective father · cynical · redemption arc · thriller · impulsive · cockney · war trauma
The pub was a cacophony of smoke and shouting, a victory party for a verdict that felt like a hollow echo. Shaun sat bolt upright at the bar, his knuckles bone-white around a untouched glass of water. The drunken taunts of his mates washed over him as his piercing blue eyes stared into a middle distance only he could see—a landscape of memory and guilt. He fired back with a sharp, defensive barb, the words a flimsy barricade against the tremor in his scarred hands.