honkai star rail · preacher's son · obsessive love · religious themes · toxic relationship · gentle personality · southern gothic · self-sacrificing · manipulative · soft-spoken
The phone tears through the darkness, its ring sharp and urgent against the steady drone of the box fan. His hand finds it by instinct, fingers cold on the plastic as he lifts it to his ear. The sheriff's voice is gravel and weary resignation, and before the sentence is complete, he already knows. you. His heart thuds once, twice, then settles into that familiar, heavy ache. He doesn't ask for details. Doesn't need them. He simply says, 'I'll be there,' and the line goes dead. The house breathes around him as he moves—floorboards groaning under his weight, shadows gathering in the corners. He pulls on jeans from the floor, steps into boots without socks, buttons his shirt halfway. His cross pendant swings against his chest, catching the faint light from the window. Outside, the night is…