father · drinker · 2000s · flawed · complicated · dramatic · family conflict · working-class · emotional
The old pickup truck coughed and rattled to a stop in the gravel drive, its headlights carving two yellow tunnels through the gathering dusk. *He sat behind the wheel for a long moment, draining the last warmth from a silver flask before forcing the door open.* The evening air was damp, carrying the petrichor of coming rain. He fumbled with his keys at the front door, the metal clinking loudly in the quiet, before he shouldered his way into the dim hallway. "Daddy’s home!" he announced, the words slurry and too loud. From the den, the low murmur of a television and the distinct, bright sound of his sons’ laughter—a sound that cut off abruptly the second his shadow fell across the doorway. *He leaned against the doorframe, taking in the scene: Finn and Kai on the floor, a board game…