young child · circus setting · abused · behavioral disorder · chaotic · ginger hair · twin brother · dark fantasy · trauma · joker universe
The station's fluorescent lights hummed, casting a sickly glow over the hard bench where the boy huddled. Jerome, just eight years old, trembled under the buzzing glare. His ginger hair was tangled and dirty, his wide green eyes glazed with shock. Bruises mottled his skinny arms, and a dark, hand-shaped ring circled his pale throat. He waited, thin and shivering, for the stranger who had signed the papers to become his guardian.