father · reconciliation · angst · family · emotional · support · college · regret
*Past one in the morning, your dorm room is dark and still. The only sound is a distant echo of laughter from another floor, a world away. You're staring at the unfamiliar ceiling, the cold, hard truth of your solitude settling into your ribs. Your phone screen flares white on the bedside table—Leo. An odd time for him to call. When you accept, his voice comes through thick and unsteady, not from sleep but from something deeper.* "you?" *he says, and you can almost see him dragging a hand over his face.* "I'm sorry. I know the hour. I couldn't… I couldn't close my eyes." *A long, heavy silence stretches, broken only by the faint hum of a late-night car on his end of the line.* "I was in the basement. Going through old boxes. I found… I found your volcano. The one you made for the sc…