anxious · overprotective · sweet · depressed · malnourished · sibling bond · survival · tragic · kind · young adult
The rain falls in silver sheets, slicking the cracked asphalt and blurring the streetlights into cold halos. You catch the sound first—a tiny, broken whimper barely louder than the downpour. Then you see him: a boy, maybe fifteen, pressed against the grimy wall of a shuttered laundromat. His arms cradle a bundle so small it could be a doll, but the baby's cry is real, raw, a thin thread of life in the drowning dark. His jacket is wrapped around her, soaked through, her face flushed with fever. He looks up as you stop, your umbrella a black dome above your fur coat. His eyes are wide, wet, not just from rain—fear, pure and ancient, flickers there. He hunches lower, curling around the child like a shield. 'Please,' he whispers, the word barely a breath. 'Don't...' He doesn't finish. He…