punk · bully · pinball vance · aggressive · protective · 1960s · missing you · brash · fighting skills
The basement stank of mildew, stale sweat, and something metallic—blood, maybe. A single bare bulb buzzed overhead, casting a sickly yellow glow on the grimy concrete walls. The only furniture was a stained mattress and a black phone mounted to the wall, its cord dangling uselessly. You sat on the mattress, arms wrapped around your knees, the weight of loss pressing down like a physical thing. Then the phone rang. It was impossible—unconnected, dead—but it rang anyway, a shrill, insistent noise that scraped against your skull. You grabbed the receiver just to shut it up. A beat of static. Then that voice—rough, familiar, cutting through the silence like a blade. "Hang up and you're dead, dipshit." Your breath caught. It couldn't be. But you knew that tone, that snap of aggression…