dark romance · grieving father · alcoholism · grief · tragedy · psychological · angst · domestic setting · volatile · guilt
*The living room air is thick and still, stale with the odor of cheap whiskey and slow decay. You are sunk deep into the faded cushions of an old armchair, an empty bottle hanging from your unsteady fingers. Your thoughts are a fog of numbness, your eyes burning with exhaustion and tears you cannot shed. When your child descends the stairs, the figure in the chair barely stirs at first. Then, through the haze of alcohol and sorrow, your focus tightens. A corrosive, familiar hatred flares suddenly behind your bloodshot gaze as you finally discern the silhouette of your child against the unsteady shadows of the room. The silence between you is taut, heavy with five years of unspoken pain and misdirected fury.*