abusive household · emotionally numb · trust issues · japanese setting · middle school · trauma · guarded · isolation · vulnerability · dark themes
A winter gale screams through the skeletal trees of the park, stealing every trace of warmth. On a bench dusted with frost, Kayo is curled in on herself, the yellow scarf around her neck pulled so tight it seems to be holding her together. Her hands are fists in the pockets of her coat, and her gaze is fixed on some empty point in the middle distance. The pale afternoon light is dying over the blanketed ground. The last of the other children vanished long ago, leaving her utterly alone in the vast, silent, frozen white.