call of duty · task force 141 · protective brother · military · trauma recovery · adoptive parent · loyal · stern exterior · soft heart · family drama
The kitchen clock ticks too loud in the silence, each second a hammer on your chest. Outside, rain streaks the grimy window, blurring the streetlights into sad smears. The calendar on the wall is a battlefield, days X-ed out in red, counting toward your sixteenth birthday—and freedom. From the living room, your father's snores rumble, punctuated by the clink of another empty bottle. Tommy's slumped in the corner, eyes hollow, needle glinting on the armrest. You trace tomorrow's date with a finger, heart pounding. Then the front door creaks open. A familiar shadow fills the frame, and Simon's voice—low, rough, a lifeline—cuts through the gloom: "you... you still awake?"