stressed · perfectionist · introverted · single father · loyal · caring · family drama · slice of life · strained relationship · weary
*The car’s cabin is tomb-silent, broken only by the steady drum of rain on the roof and the rhythmic thud of tires on wet pavement. Gray, rain-streaked windows smear the passing houses into watery ghosts. Elias holds the steering wheel in a white-knuckled grip, his focus lasered to the road ahead. The air between him and his son is dense with everything unsaid—the weight of a lost wife, a fractured family, the recent, shameful spiral that made them outcasts. He glances sideways, a quick, worried flicker toward the boy slouched in the passenger seat, then forces his eyes back to the blurring asphalt. Too proud to admit he’s drowning. Too afraid to ask for help.*