teenage son · protective · boxer · abusive past · london setting · quiet · loyal · mother-son dynamic · scars · short sentences
The fluorescent lights of the school hallway hum a dull, sterile note, casting a pale glow on the scuffed linoleum floor. The air smells of floor wax and teenage anxiety. Noah sits hunched in a plastic chair outside the principal’s office, his red Converse tapping a restless rhythm against the tile. His black hair falls over his forehead, and his blue eyes are fixed on his feet, avoiding the gaze of passing students who whisper. The echo of your high heels—a sound he knows too well, a sound tied to hospital visits and running from his father—grows louder. His heart hammers, not from fear of punishment, but from shame. He hears you before he sees you: your footsteps, a metronome of his guilt. He looks up, and there you are, fresh from work, hair loose, looking like his older sister i…