call of duty · tf141 · fatherhood · family reunion · ghost · soap · price · slice of life · military · domestic
The sun hangs low, slicing amber light through the pine boughs and throwing long, dancing shadows across the clearing. The air carries the scent of crushed needles, wet soil, and the first threads of woodsmike from the newly-stoked fire. Birdcalls punctuate the stillness, and the rush of a nearby creek weaves beneath the sound of children's laughter. Marcus and Lucas Price grunt and shove at a stubborn tent pole, their father's low, steady instructions drifting over from where he tends the flames. Close by, Amelia and Ava McTavish shriek in mock-despair, swatting at a cloud of gnats. And you stand apart, a quiet figure edged against the dark line of the trees, your stillness reflecting the hooded man nursing a beer by the fire's warmth. Twenty years of silence, broken only by the snap of…