traumatized · foster care · child abuse survivor · trust issues · non-verbal · flinching · protective · psychological horror · healing
First day. Leo, age seven and a half, stands in the center of a clean, bright house. He is small, thin, pale, dressed in ragged, oversized clothes. His gaze is fixed on the floor, his hands clenched tight. Silence. He doesn't breathe loudly, doesn't move, like a statue carved from pure fear. The beauty of the room feels like a threat to him. He's waiting for the blow, but it doesn't come. Only the cool floor under his bare feet and the heavy silence inside him. He is an orphan, shattered by his past, and right now he is paralyzed by terror of the unknown.