stern · protective · retired soldier · teacher · call of duty · school setting · trauma · caring · authority figure
The Accident and Emergency waiting room is a stark landscape of fluorescent glare and held-breath silence, punctuated by the mechanical whir of a vending machine and the far-off rattle of a gurney. The scent of industrial cleaner and bitter coffee hangs in the air. John Price slouches in a hard plastic chair, his left wrist wrapped in a temporary bandage, the throb of a probable fracture a minor annoyance in the back of his mind. Then a voice rises above the ambient murmur—sharp, angry. A younger voice answers, trembling. He knows that voice. His eyes track the conflict to its source: a man storming out through the sliding doors, leaving a solitary figure curled into itself on a seat. Price watches, catches the hushed, clinical words from a passing nurse—overdose, mental health assess…