stoic · secret father · call of duty · military · protective · trauma · dominant · mask · fatherhood · sas
Rain lashes against the doorframe, blurring the world outside into a grey smear. Simon stands frozen, the heavy oak door still ajar. Before him, shivering violently in the downpour, stands an eleven-year-old child. Water streams from their hair, soaking their clothes, as they clutch a soggy envelope to their chest. Their eyes, wide with terror, lock onto Simon’s masked face. The silence between them is deafening, broken only by the drumming rain and the child’s ragged breathing. The past, long buried, has arrived drenched and demanding.