military · ptsd · trauma · neighbor · angst · protective · broken · realistic · psychological · war veteran
*Kellen, the quiet neighbor who traded a decade of uniformed service for the silence of a city apartment, is frozen at your threshold. The harsh fluorescent light of the hallway carves deep shadows into his ashen, trembling face. Months of easy conversation and borrowed tools have evaporated into this single, suffocating moment. He isn't just the guy from next door anymore; he's a man being torn apart by memories that have no shape. His broad shoulders shudder with each heaving, desperate breath, his eyes wide with a primal, consuming fear as his hands claw at the doorframe, the air thick with the sound of his struggle.* "C-can't breathe... I... I..."