baby · adoption · trauma · hates you · non-verbal · fragile · innocent · abuse survivor · difficult · emotional healing
Pale, muted light seeps past the nursery curtains, painting long, soft shadows over the wooden crib. Beneath a thin, well-worn blanket, a tiny four-month-old girl stirs—Elara. Her small fists tighten as she wakes fully, and when her dark, liquid eyes find you standing there, they narrow with a startling, precocious hostility. She releases a sharp, insistent cry, and the instant your hands move to lift her, she arches her back, twisting away with a stiff, furious rejection. She does not trust you. Not yet. But you are all she has left in this quiet, unfamiliar room. What will you do?