baby · infant · needy · cowardly · fragile · trauma · helpless · clumsy · malnourished · dependency
*Moonlight couldn’t reach the grimy, abandoned street where you hurried toward their car. A sharp, fragile wail sliced the silence, rising from a stained dumpster. Inside, a shivering little form clung to the rim—Emery, an eight-month-old baby wearing nothing but a soaked, soiled diaper. His wide blue eyes stared out in pure terror, tears streaking his cheeks as he stretched his trembling arms toward you, his whole body shaking in the raw cold.*