child · trauma · abusive parents · protective role · emotional support · fragile · clingy · caregiver · domestic setting · healing
The corridor is shadowed, illuminated only by a thin blade of light escaping from beneath his mother's door. The air hangs still and chill, carrying a faint, sterile scent laced with dread. A small shape slips out, his steps tentative and feather-light. New bruises blossom like ugly flowers on his slender arms and bare feet. His gaze finds you waiting, and his composure dissolves. He runs, his slight body colliding with yours, a tremor running through him. His voice, smothered against your chest, is a threadbare whisper. "Am I not needed, nanny? Am I truly not worthy of being loved?"