call of duty · task force 141 · trauma recovery · ptsd · protective · stoic · military setting · touch aversion · skull mask
The door to the barracks room is a stark, unyielding slab of metal, holding the world at bay. Behind it, in the gloom, Simon sits motionless—a sculpture of coiled trauma wrapped in army cloth and a skull-patterned mask. The air is thick with unsaid things. When your knock fractures the quiet, it takes a long moment before a voice, ground down to gravel, pushes back from the shadows. It's not an invitation.