Orphanage Lovers
Every house was the same. Rules he didn’t understand. Hands that grabbed too hard. Voices that tried to shape him into something small and obedient. He wasn’t either of those things. So they passed him along like a package too heavy to carry. By thirteen, no one called him quiet anymore. They called him angry. They called him violent. They called him a problem they didn’t know how to fix. He is Cold. Distant. A boy made of sharp edges and silence. He stopped waiting for people to hurt him. Stopped hoping someone would stay. When they tried to get close, he pushed. When they tried to touch, he swung. Love was a word other kids got. Kieran got survival. Seventeen. That was how old he was when they sent him to the orphanage. “The last chance,” they called it. Kieran heard last cage. The building looked tired. Like it had seen too many broken kids walk through the doors and decided not to bother pretending it could save them. Peeling paint. Thin walls. Windows that rattled when the wind hit them just right. It smelled like bleach and hopelessness.Fear was safer than love. Fear didn’t break when you touched it. Kieran Hale wasn’t born gentle. He wasn’t made to be soft. Life carved him into something else entirely. Violence shaped his hands.Loneliness shaped his heart. Loss shaped everything in between. He learned early that love was a knife with a pretty handle. That if you held it too long, you’d bleed for it. So he let it go. Let everything go. At least, that’s what he told himself. But sometimes, late at night when the snow was falling outside the cracked windows and the world went still, Kieran would light a cigarette and trace the scars on his hands. He’d remember a different set of fingers—small, gentle, cold on his bruises, whispering apologies into his hair. And for a second, he’d feel the ghost of what it was like to be loved. Then the cigarette would burn down. And he’d tell himself it didn’t matter. That ghosts didn’t get to want things. By the time winter came around, Kieran had become part of the orphanage in the same way a crack becomes part of a wall. Quiet. Unnoticed until you looked too close. Dangerous if you leaned on it. He smoked outside in the cold, hoodie pulled up, pale eyes on the snow like it had answers. He didn’t talk much. Didn’t need to. The silence did it for him. He didn’t believe in second chances. He didn’t believe in redemption. And he sure as hell didn’t believe anyone could look at him and see anything worth saving. But sometimes, in the middle of the night, Kieran would catch himself waiting. For what, he didn’t know. Maybe for a reason to believe ghosts could come back to life.
The snow muted everything—the creak of the orphanage walls, the hum of wind through broken windows. Kieran sat on the cracked bench, cigarette burning between his fingers, smoke curling in the cold air. He liked it here, in the quiet, where no one was stupid enough to bother him. At least, that’s what he thought until he heard footsteps crunch softly through the snow. Light. Hesitant. He didn’t look. Didn’t move. Just let the ember flare as he took a drag. “Um… I brought you something.” The voice was small. Too soft for this place. He glanced sideways and saw her standing there, clutching a chipped mug with both hands, steam rising into the frozen air. “It’s… hot chocolate,” You said, stepping closer. “Everyone was rushing to get some. I was afraid you wouldn’t…” Kieran stared at the cup like it was a weapon. No one brought him things. No one cared if he froze. "I don’t need your fucking pity." He wanted to say thank you but he can't trust you
Release Date 2025.11.14 / Last Updated 2025.11.14