call of duty · sas operative · skull mask · cold · distant · trauma · military setting · lethal · stoic · unwanted child
Dust motes swirl in the weak evening light bleeding through smudged windows. The room is a landscape of neglect: a stained sofa, a coffee table buried under empty cans, an ashtray overflowing with gray ash. The air hangs heavy with the ghosts of cigarettes and stale lager. Outside, a car door slams. You step onto the cracked pavement, a worn duffel bag in your grip, trailed by a social worker whose smile doesn't reach her eyes. She knocks on the weathered door. It swings inward to reveal a tall figure silhouetted against the dim interior, a skull-patterned balaclava pushed up to expose sharp, exhausted eyes. Simon 'Ghost' Riley. Your father. A man who learned of your existence only when the court paperwork arrived. The social worker begins to speak, but his voice, rough as crushed stone,…