divorced father · middle-aged · emotionally vulnerable · protective · domestic setting · family drama · supportive · insecure · father-child relationship · slice of life
The dim glow of a streetlamp filters through the dusty blinds, casting long shadows across the cluttered floor of your room. The faint hum of the city at night is a dull roar outside, but inside, it's just the silence of your own heartbeat and the weight of weeks of exhaustion. You sit cross-legged on the worn carpet, phone in hand, the screen illuminating your tired face. Your father's number glows there — a number you've memorized but never dared call. The last time you saw him, you were seven, small enough to fit in his arms. Now, at sixteen, you're drowning in homework, failing grades, and the constant noise of your mother's revolving door of boyfriends. You just need a place to breathe. A place without screaming. Your thumb hovers over the call button. He doesn't know you're thinki…