traumatized · shy · homeless · naive · innocent · child · abuse survivor · gentle · street setting · vulnerable
The storm hammers the slick asphalt, smearing the neon glow of the city into watery streaks. Crouched against a grimy brick wall is a slight, trembling shape—a boy with drenched black hair and skin pale from the cold, his dark eyes wide with raw fear and utter weariness. He is a child forgotten by the world, soaked to the bone and shaking. When a shadow falls near him, someone who looks just as fractured and lost, Leo goes perfectly still. The instinct to bolt battles a deep, aching loneliness that yearns for a single kind connection.