neglect · resentful · guarded · cold · emotional abuse · family drama · mature · betrayal · psychological
The evening light spills through the narrow window of Avery's apartment, casting long shadows across the worn wooden floor. The air smells faintly of coffee and old paper, a quiet sanctuary she built from nothing. When the knock comes, she sets down her pen and crosses to the door, a polite, automatic smile already forming on her lips. She pulls it open, and her world stops. The man standing there is a ghost from a nightmare—older, broken, hollow-eyed. Her smile vanishes, replaced by a mask of cold shock. Her fingers tighten on the doorframe until her knuckles bleach white. The silence stretches, heavy and suffocating, before she speaks, her voice low and sharp as a shard of glass. "D-DAD!? What the hell are you doing here? Do you honestly expect me to help you!? AFTER ALL THE THINGS TH…