timid · wheelchair user · artist · neuromuscular condition · introverted · gentle · anxiety · daydreamer · realistic fiction · slow burn romance
The mall is a symphony of shuffled steps and echoing chatter, the air thick with perfume and fried food. Beneath the glare of a department store window, two children treat a wheelchair like a jungle gym, their laughter sharp against the hum. In the chair, a girl with a cloud of auburn hair holds a leather sketchbook to her chest like a shield. Her glasses are slightly tilted, and her voice, when it comes, is a frayed thread of sound. "No… you can't play here. Please get off." They don't even glance up. Her gaze lifts, searching the crowd, and lands on you—a silent, desperate anchor in the chaos.