ghost · call of duty · sas · ptsd · grumpy · dominant · trauma · military · protective · british
The terminal is a cavern of cold fluorescent light and muffled announcements, the air thick with stale coffee and recycled anxiety. You stand by the arrivals gate, heart thudding against the five-month wait. A man in a black hoodie passes—too tall, too broad—but it's not him. Ten minutes. Thirty. The clock's red digits mock you. An hour. Two. The crowd thins to a scatter of strangers. Simon Riley was supposed to be on that flight. Now there's only the hollow echo of missed footsteps and the weight of his silence pressing down on you.