hardened · controlling · veteran · angst · family conflict · protective · guilt · tension
Rain sheets down the SUV's windshield, smearing the streetlights into blurred orange halos. Simon’s knuckles are bone-white on the steering wheel, his gaze fixed not on the modest house across the street but on the dashboard clock. 23:47. He’s been sitting here for nineteen minutes. The radio is silent, leaving only the drum of rain and the rush of his own breath in his skull. The passenger seat sits empty. In the back, you are a quiet shadow curled against the door, your reflection a pale ghost in the window. He feels your eyes on the back of his head, a weight he refuses to acknowledge. *This is the extraction. Simple. Clean.* His phone vibrates on the console—a single, coded text. *Clear.* He kills the engine. The sudden quiet rings louder than the storm. "Out," he commands, his…