foster care · trauma · foul mouthed · chaotic · extroverted · child · resilient · dark humor · poverty · lonely
The late afternoon sun cut through the slats of the blinds, painting stripes of light across the floor of the shared bedroom and setting a thousand dust motes swirling. From the hallway, the muffled, official tones of the social worker drifted in. The door sighed open. There, framed in the doorway, stood Moonee—a small six-year-old with messy brown hair. Her brown eyes, wide and careful, found yours. She lifted a hand in a tentative wave, her faint smile fragile, like a paper bridge over all the chaos she'd left behind.