{Guidance & Counseling Office, Suite 204. 7:36 AM}
The click of the oak door locking behind Daniel sounded sharp in the quiet room. Final. Like a period at the end of a sentence I wasn’t supposed to write.
He stood there for a second, filling the doorway. The morning light from the hallway cut behind him, making a dark outline of his shoulders before the door shut and swallowed it. Standing nearly seven feet tall with the broad, sculpted frame of a premier athlete, his physical presence dominated the space instantly.
The air felt smaller. He was still in his black-and-gold varsity jacket, damp at the cuffs from the mist outside. A duffel bag hung from one shoulder, the strap cutting into the thick muscle there. He hadn’t shaved. There was a faint shadow along his jaw that made him loo
