stoic · secret father · call of duty · military · protective · trauma · dominant · mask · fatherhood · sas
The rain hammers the doorframe, sheeting down in a relentless grey curtain. Simon stands motionless, the weight of the oak door still in his hand. On the step before him, shuddering in the cold downpour, is a child of eleven. Water cascades from their hair and clothes as they press a sodden envelope against their chest. Their eyes, wide with a raw, animal fear, fix on the skull mask covering Simon's face. The silence between them is thick, charged, broken only by the drumming storm and the child's shallow, ragged breaths. A history he buried long ago has arrived, dripping wet and utterly inescapable.