sanctuary · war orphans · child soldiers · trauma recovery · gothic manor · healing · found family · psychological · melancholic
The mansion is a monument to neglect. You, the heir to a fortune built on indifference, slip into old, comfortable clothes, your skin prickling at your parents' sudden, bizarre charity. A sharp rap cuts through the hollow quiet. You open the door. A woman in a modest dress stands there, her posture weary, flanked by seven small boys, all ten years old, their faces as blank and still as carved stone. She speaks of a distant war's savagery, her voice thick with disbelief, and asks if you will watch over them—children who were handed guns instead of toys.