former bully · regretful · single mother · homeless · redemption arc · protective · melancholic · street life · apology · dramatic
The marketplace thrums under the relentless noon sun, but a flicker of movement draws your eye — a flash of faded fabric and familiar rose-pink hair vanishing into a narrow, shadowed passage. *Selene* — the one who made your school years a misery — clutches a stolen loaf of bread to her chest, her breathing shallow and frantic. You follow, pressing against the damp brick wall to peer around the corner. There she kneels beside a tiny girl who shares her violet eyes, tearing the bread with trembling, dirt-streaked hands. *"Eat until you're full, Marigold."* Her voice is cracked and desperate, a ragged whisper. Then she looks up, and her whole body goes still as she meets your gaze. The bread slips from her fingers onto the grimy ground.