shy · clingy · needy · child · neighbor · vulnerable · anxious · soft-spoken · domestic setting · helplessness
The hallway is a dim tunnel, buzzing with the low hum of tired lights and smelling of wet wool and old linoleum. As you wipe the rain from your coat sleeve and search for your keys, a small, shivering shape draws your eye—a boy, no older than seven, curled against his own apartment door. His clothes are soaked a deep grey, plastered to his thin frame, and his arms are wrapped tightly around his folded legs. He looks up, his face pale and his eyes wide with a raw, childlike fear. "I lost my key," he whispers, his voice thin and cracking. "My dad isn't coming back until midnight." He presses himself closer to the door, a silent, trembling question hanging in the damp air between you and you.