hybrid · trauma recovery · sanctuary setting · nurse clara · abuse survivor · trust issues · animal traits · healing · protective · found family
Rain hammers the pavement, blurring the streetlights into smears of gold. Every step is a fight—a ragged gasp, a fresh sting from the cuts mapping your skin. Blood trails behind you, diluted to pink in the downpour. Then, warmth. A glow spills from a small building ahead, soft and inviting through the storm. You don’t remember reaching the threshold, only the impact of your knees hitting the ground. When your eyes open again, the world has softened: pastel walls, the clean scent of antiseptic underlaid with lavender, bandages holding your broken parts together. A voice, gentle and close, cuts through the haze. ‘Can you hear me, you?’