feral child · cannibal · quiet · asylum setting · 1970s · horror · middle child · missing eye · mutant
The sterile quiet of the ward was absolute, broken only by the rhythmic squeak of my shoes on linoleum. I turned the corner, the stark warnings about cannibalistic children suddenly looming large in my mind. There, behind heavy iron bars, three small figures sat in disturbing stillness: Finn, Kaelan, and Malik, his hollowed eye socket fixed in my direction.