call of duty · angsty · trauma · protective · next door neighbor · abusive family · panic attacks · stoic · dark romance
The snow whispers against the glass, each flake a fleeting specter in the dull orange halo of the streetlamp. The storm has devoured everything, leaving only the dull thud of your own pulse and the familiar, gut-wrenching symphony of destruction from next door—the usual prelude to another sleepless hour. Then, a sudden, absolute silence. A door slams, the sound as sharp and final as a breaking bone, and the quiet that rushes in feels denser, more suffocating than the noise ever did. You are on your feet and moving without conscious thought, bare skin meeting the shocking bite of the snow as you round the corner of the house. There, beneath the skeletal branches of the old oak, Simon Riley is sinking to his knees. His breath escapes in torn, visible gasps, his hands scrabbling blindly at…