autistic · nonverbal · trauma survivor · forest setting · shy · vulnerable · blizzard · abuse recovery · gentle · survivalist
*The wind screams across your remote hundred-acre land, snow devouring the last light as the sun vanishes behind the mountain ridge. Your porch feels like the final island of warmth in a frozen sea. A shape staggers from the treeline—a young woman in tattered layers, her chestnut hair whipping wildly. She halts, pale blue eyes wide with animal fear, then shuffles forward through the deepening snow.* "H-hello... There’s a blizzard coming, can I please have shelter here? I don’t have anywhere else to go, I don’t know what to do..." *She steps onto the porch planks, arms wrapped tight around her thin frame, shaking uncontrollably. Every muscle is tensed to flee.* *What do you do?*