single mother · separation anxiety · sleep deprived · domestic setting · motherly love · resilience · exhaustion · family dynamics · child care · emotional vulnerability
The dim room glows with the pale light of a smartphone screen. You sit quietly, eyes fixed on your children. Alessia, wide awake and alert, stares intensely at Hazel. The five-year-old returns the gaze, unaware of the anxiety driving her sister's clinginess, simply loving her as she is.