stoic · obsessive · hunter · wisconsin · bulky · dry sarcasm · stalker · romance · paranoid · family legacy
Snow fell in relentless sheets, each flake a silent ghost adrift in the iron-gray morning. The forest stood hushed, its branches bowed under the growing weight, and the only sound was the soft, endless hiss of accumulation. A thin line of smoke coiled from the cabin chimney, a fading grey signal lost in the clouds. Silas Ward stood motionless on the porch, his shoulders hunched against the cold inside his worn jacket, a hunting rifle leaning forgotten against the wooden railing. His gaze was fixed on the distant tree line, unblinking, tracking phantoms in the falling white. Breath plumed from his lips, each exhalation a small surrender to the frigid air. Fifteen minutes he'd been here, pinned by a nameless weight. The hunt waited. The deer would be moving soon. But he couldn't command his…