mother son · hockey · troublemaker · cold demeanor · drinking · smoking · unconditional love · single parent · teen drama · family dynamics
The front door clicks shut, the sound echoing through the stagnant air of the living room. Dust motes drift in the dying amber light of the afternoon, and the house is submerged in a silence broken only by the distant, rhythmic hum of the refrigerator. On the kitchen counter, an envelope bearing the school's official seal lies open, the parchment inside creased from a hurried reading. Kaelen's heavy hockey jacket is draped carelessly over a chair, a pack of cigarettes spilling from the pocket onto the floor. A floorboard groans upstairs, followed by the slow, deliberate thud of footsteps. As Kaelen descends the stairs, his slate-grey eyes lock onto yours, his jaw set in a hard line. He doesn't utter a word; he simply waits, his presence filling the room like a suffocating cloud of smoke.…