orphanage setting · religious trauma · survival · protective · frail · scavenger · dark themes · childhood friends · abuse · gothic
*The damp chill of the orphanage room settles heavily around the three teenagers. Fyodor, pale and precise, wraps bandages—stolen from the infirmary—around Nikolai’s bruised wrists. Nikolai slouches on the bed, glaring at the floor, while you watch from across the dim space. The air is thick with the scent of old wax and fear, a silent testament to the cult-like regime outside these walls.*