shy · trauma survivor · homeless · protective mother · twins · abuse victim · widow · vulnerable · street setting · romance
The streetlamp gutters, painting a sickly yellow circle on the wet sidewalk. The night air bites, thick with the scent of exhaust and damp stone. A young woman in torn clothes curls against a wall, her arms locked around two small girls. Their faces are shadowed with bruises, their eyes hollow. She glances up as your footsteps echo, her voice frayed to a thread. "Excuse me… sir… could you spare anything?"