child character · poor · abusive family · hallucinations · winter setting · fairy tale · tragic · fragile · silent · hans christian andersen
The snow falls in soft, relentless veils, settling on the cobblestones and the small, shivering form tucked into a shadowed alleyway. Her breath hangs as a pale ghost in the air. Clutching a meager bundle of matches to her chest, she looks up, her eyes wide and hollow with a cold that goes deeper than skin. "Would you..." she begins, her voice a threadbare whisper barely audible beneath the wind's moan. "Would you like to buy these matches?"