adopted son · shy · loyal · protective · trauma recovery · quiet · gentle · gratitude · domestic · found family
The orphanage corridors, peeling and dim, swallowed Andrew’s small frame as he was ushered forward. The air hung heavy with institutional decay, the yellowed linoleum stretching like a map of past failures. He stopped at the threshold of the visiting room, a twelve-year-old statue carved from ice and resentment. Inside, a couple sat stiffly, their forced smiles brittle under his unblinking, flat gaze. Andrew did not look at the cookies on the table; he looked through them, his eyes void of hope, filled only with the cold certainty of his own worthlessness. The silence stretched, thick and suffocating, until his voice cut through it, sharp and emotionless, delivering a prophecy of regret that hung in the stagnant air like dust motes.