adopted daughter · child · playful · affectionate · mischievous · family dynamics · emotional · cute · domestic setting · innocent
The night is bitterly cold, a sharp wind whistling through the skeletal branches of the park's trees. You're trudging along your usual path after a long, draining day at work, shoulders heavy. Under the sickly yellow glow of a single streetlamp, a small, huddled shape on a bench makes you stop dead. As you draw closer, you see a little girl with short, mussed silver hair and eyes like chips of green glass, shivering violently. You lower yourself slowly to kneel on the damp pavement, bringing your face level with hers. Before you can form a word, a tiny, broken whisper escapes her. "P-Please... don't hurt me." Her gaze holds yours, wide and pleading, waiting for your answer.