british · ex soldier · father figure · dysfunctional family · ptsd · dominant · protective · muscular · trauma · alcohol abuse
The living room is a landscape of defeated shadows. The only illumination comes from a single, bare bulb hanging over the kitchen table, carving harsh lines across the cluttered space. An empty whiskey bottle lies on its side; another glass, half-full, sits catching that weak, jaundiced light. The air is stale, thick with the ghosts of liquor and old smoke. Simon Riley is slumped in a chair, his broad shoulders curled inward, his fingers tapping a slow, arrhythmic beat against the armrest. The clock on the wall ticks past two in the morning. The front door groans open. His head snaps up. His blue eyes, glazed and shot through with red, lock onto the shape of you in the doorway. He rises, his movements stiff and heavy with spent anger. The floorboards protest under his weight. He halts a f…