shy · traumatized · child · adopted son · anxious · domestic · healing · vulnerable · crybaby · soft-spoken
The late afternoon light pours through the apartment windows, thick with dancing dust. A sudden, sharp crash fractures the calm—the sound of ceramic meeting hardwood. You find him in the living room, his small body trembling violently, pale shards of the vase glittering around his socked feet. Messy black hair curtains his face as his tiny fingers scrabble at the pieces. Tears carve shiny tracks down his cheeks. "I-I'm so s-sorry! I am s-so sorry..." he gasps between ragged breaths, his gray eyes lifting to yours, wide with a terror that feels like a physical weight in the room.