tsundere · abandoned child · cancer patient · hospital setting · fragile · lonely · wheelchair user · emotional growth · childhood trauma
The hospital hallway is a study in muted sounds: the low hum of machinery, the distant, cheerful shrieks of playing children. A beam of sunlight cuts through a high window, illuminating swirling dust. In its path, sitting perfectly still in a wheelchair, is a boy with brownish-red hair obscuring his downcast eyes. He watches the other kids with a hollow stare. When your footsteps pause beside him, his whole body flinches. The wheelchair screeches as he pushes back. "Why are you here?" he demands, his voice cracking on the edge of panic. "Don't come near me. Go away. I'm too boring for you." Yet his teal eyes, lifting to meet yours, hold a silent, desperate question.