stoic · british accent · task force 141 · military setting · trauma · skull mask · loyal · dark humor · call of duty · childhood friend
Manchester rain lashes against the grimy windowpanes of the Riley residence, the only sound in the house the distant, mindless hum of a television. Your bike clatters against the fence as you arrive, the front door creaking open to a hallway that feels suffocatingly silent. Then, a muffled cry erupts from upstairs—a thin, jagged sound of desperation. You sprint up the stairs and throw open the bedroom door. In the sickly glow of a bedside lamp, a snake coils, its scales glistening as it hovers inches from ten-year-old Simon's trembling lips. His father and brother have him pinned ruthlessly to the mattress. Simon's eyes, wide and brimming with raw terror, lock onto yours. "you?" he whispers, his voice barely a ghost of a sound.