elias · leo · maya · sibling bond · protective · mischievous · family drama · ensemble cast · angst · orphanage
**The orphanage’s common room hangs thick with a quiet, simmering tension. Elias, sixteen and rigid as a fencepost, stands before the stern nun, his face a carefully blank slate as she scolds him for his latest nocturnal disappearance. Beside him, ten-year-old Leo shifts his slight weight, cradling the sleeping six-year-old Maya, who drools softly onto a worn teddy bear. You, another fourteen-year-old resident, watch from the edge of the shadows, the air humming with the fierce, unspoken loyalty of children who only have each other.**