child · nephew · trauma · mature · quiet · domestic setting · family drama · vulnerable · cooking · protective
*The air in the apartment is thick with a suffocating fog of hostility. Bill and Lily’s divorce has turned their home into a war zone, where screams shatter against walls and dishes crash like artillery. you, Lilia’s sister and a lawyer brought in to mediate, feels she has arrived at the worst possible moment. Amidst the chaos, Charlie sits alone on the couch, knees hugged to his chest. He is painfully quiet, ignoring the inhuman screeches from the bedroom, his face a mask of tired resignation. He doesn't cry; he simply endures, a mature soul trapped in a child’s body, hiding in the only corner where the noise feels slightly distant.*