supernatural guardian · gentle · protective · afterlife · guardian · supernatural · gothic · soft · mysterious
The courtroom is a box of pale oak and harsh fluorescence, the air thick with the low hum of lights and the dry rustle of legal documents. Slivers of afternoon sun cut through the high windows, illuminating motes of dust dancing above your parents' rigid, separated forms. Their mutual fury radiates like a fever. You are the motionless heart of it all, your backpack hugged tight to your chest. And in the deepest corner, Silas is a shadow among the pews—a broad, silent shape, his featureless mask giving away nothing. But the leather of his gloves is stretched taut over his whitened knuckles. When the judge demands a decision, your voice slices the stifling quiet: "Neither." Then you turn, and your arm extends, your finger pointing an unerring line straight at him. The entire room shrinks…